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DAVID J. LEWIS 



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LMTED STATES OF AMERICA. 




DAVID J. LEWIS. 



Word and Work 



of 



DAVID J. LEWIS. 




"JVot myself, but the truth that in life I have spoken, 
Not myself, but the seed that hi life I have sown, 
Shall pass on to ages — all about me forgotten, 

Save the truth I have spoketi, the things I have done.'''' 



M. W. KNAPP. 

Office of the Revivalist, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
1900. 



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AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 
TO ALL GOD'S PEOPLE. 



8K00ND COPY, 



Copyrighted, 1900, by M. W. Knapp. 



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PREFACE. 



"TT might have been" that the sainted writer of 
these sermons, had he lived, would have written 
some sermons expressly for the press. These, how- 
ever, were not so intended, but only as references for 
his own future use, and were written from memory after 
they were delivered, with no special thought as to dic- 
tion, rhetoric, style, or literary merit; and, while written 
out quite fully in some parts, it is evident that they were 
intended to be developed and enlarged in many parts. 
However, there has been no attempt at distorting them 
out of their original proportions, or any critical "pass- 
ing upon" them, or "trimming up" that which was 
quickened into being by the breath of God upon his 
soul. 

This little memoir has been compiled from per- 
sonal reminiscences, and from experiences and incidents 
of various co-workers; and while the task has been en- 
tered upon with a reluctance which arises from a con- 
sciousness of inability, it is also with a confidence and 
assurance — the outgrowth of a Divinely-implanted desire 
that, as the spoken words of our "loved and lost" 
were so potent through the Spirit's power in touching 
and tendering human hearts, bringing men to repent- 

3 



Preface. 

ance, and encouraging and inspiring believers, his writ- 
ten words may be likewise fruitful. 

After this statement concerning the origin of this 
consciously-defective work, it is presumed, with some 
degree of certainty, that the literary reader's indulgence 
will not be asked in vain. 

And now, as the example of David J. Lewis, it is be- 
queathed as a legacy to the Church. May all who read 
these pages be partakers of that holiness which was 
so conspicuous in him! May we catch something of 
his inextinguishable hopefulness for mankind; and may 
his noble, self-forgetting ministry make all ministers 

braver, purer, nobler, truer ! 

E. H. I* 
Short Creek, O., 12th mo., 1899, 



INTRODUCTION. 



PvAVID J. LEWIS was a choice friend of mine, and 
a fellow-laborer in the gospel of Jesus Christ; and 
I take great pleasure in recording my very great appre- 
ciation of his labors in the ministry, and to express my 
thankfulness that this little book has been prepared by 
his devoted wife, which, I trust, will be very helpful 
to those who read it, especially to those young in the 
ministry. 

We labored together many months in perfect har- 
mony. I was always deeply impressed with his pure, 
godly life, as he went in and out before his people. It 
was a constant lesson of instruction to ministers, both 
old and young. His private devotion, so much in 
prayer and meditation, was really remarkable, a good 
example to all who expect to succeed in the Lord's 
work. I would also call attention to the fact that he 
was a devout student of the Bible, and a great reader of 
the very best books, as his large and valuable library 
shows. But I would write more particularly of our 
dear brother's ministry. He always spoke as though 
he had an important message to deliver. His whole 
being seemed to be inspired, so that even his manner- 
isms seemed to be fully under the power of the Holy 

5 



6 Introduction. 

Ghost; his sermons always rich, strong, and full of 
truth and power. How the Church needs such men 
as David J. Lewis, so strong in the Lord spiritually, so 
strong intellectually; so well-read, and of such retentive 
memory, and of such executive ability in religious mat- 
ters; a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost and wisdom! 
His sermons are enriched from his broad field of 
illustration. He was remarkably gifted in meeting the con- 
dition of the doubter and the agnostic and the speculative 
theories of science, falsely so-called. In all our labors to- 
gether on the Atlantic and Pacific Coast, I never knew 
him to preach a sermon without immediate fruit, either 
in conversion of sinners or the sanctification of believ- 
ers; and his personal work in the congregation was 
always very effective. I mourn his loss as a personal 
friend and fellow-laborer, and I mourn his loss on be- 
half of the Church. It is sad that one so gifted should 
leave us so early in life. May all who read his ser- 
mons be greatly instructed, and our young ministers 
be helped in reading and studying them; and may the 
mantle of our precious brother fall upon many! In the 
midst of our mourning and grief, we rejoice that the 
beloved one is receiving a rich reward in heaven in 
the presence of the One he so dearly loved and faithfully 
served. Could David speak to us, he would say, "What 
I am, I am by the grace of God. Not unto me, but unto 

Him, be all the glory!" 

JOHN HENRY DOUGLAS. 

McMiNNviiyi,E, Oregon. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Preface, 3 

Introduction, 5 

I. 

Childhood and Youth, 9 

II. 
Conversion and Call to the Ministry, 19 

III. 

First Pastorates, 27 

IV. 
Work in Adrian Quarterly Meeting, 32 

V. 
Last Illness, 37 

VI. 
Extracts from His Diary, 47 

VII. 
Tributes, 56 

VIII. 
Memorial Sermons, 74 

IX. 

SERMONS OF DAVID J. LEWIS : 
The Grace of Our Lord. — 2 Cor. viii, 9, 82 

X. 

God's Covenant with the Generous. — 2 Cor. ix, 8, 89 

XL 
God's Way of Eternal Life. — John xvii, 3, 105 

XII. 

Some Items of Spiritual Worship. — 1 Kings viii, 10, 11, . . . .111 

XIII. 
Elisha, or the Double Portion. — 2 Kings ii, 9-15, 128 

7 



8 Contents. 

XIV. Page. 

God's Word Learned, Lived, and Loved — Psa. cxix, n, . . . . 144 

XV. 

Glimpses of Early Evangelism. — 1 Cor. ix, 12, 155 

XVI. 

Thoughts on the Thief's Conversion. — Luke xxiii, 42, 43, . . .165 

XVII. 

Intelligent Goodness : Baccalaureate Address. — Eccl. ix, 14, 15, . .172 

XVIII. 
David's Spirit of Loyalty. — 1 Chron. xxviii, 3, 194 

XIX. 
Gideon. — Judges vi, 12, 217 

XX. 
The Lamb of God. — John i, 29, 227 

XXI. 

The Unity of The Bible. — Psa. cxix, 89, 238 

XXII. 
Perfect Love. — 1 John iv, 17, 249 

XXIII. 
The Transforming Vision. — 2 Cor. iii, 18, 268 

XXIV. 

Christianity versus Infidelity. — Deut. xxxii, 31, 273 

XXV. 
The New Man. — 2 Cor. v, 17, 286 

XXVI. 
Harmonies Announced at the Advent of Christ : 

A Christmas Sermon, 293 

XXVII. 
Life Aggrandized by Grace. — Isa. Ix, 17, 300 

XXVIII. 
The Glorious Hope. — Titus ii, 13, 3°7 



I. 

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 

jpv AVID J. LEWIS was the third of a family of eight 
*-* children, born in Pittsburg, Pa., May 20, 1859. 
His parents — Dr. D. A. Lewis and Diana Lewis — were 
both of honorable Welsh lineage, whose families were 
distinguished by many beautiful and admirable traits of 
character, which belong to noble minds and large hearts ; 
conspicuous not less for public spirit and philanthropy 
than for their scientific acumen and literary attainments, 
his father many times having won prizes in the Welsh 
Eisteddfods — a Congress of bards — for which the race 
is famous; and he learned the English and mastered 
the dead languages after he was of age. They had 
always used the Welsh language in their family till 
the eldest two children started to school. He belonged 
to an industrious family, in which idleness was con- 
sidered a crime; and when not employed in manual 
labor, the children must be reading, studying, or other- 
wise improving their minds. 

From his youth, David had before him in his parents 
an example of undaunted fidelity to truth, almost to 
sternness, which enabled him on all occasions to deter- 
mine at once the right, and to do it regardless of con- 
sequences or probable results. He never parleyed with 
a wrong in moral questions, but was always clear, posi- 
tive, and decided against it. 

At the time of the Rebellion, in the '6o's, the family 
9 



io Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

was small; but the father, possessed of a conscientious, 
patriotic loyalty to the new country of his adoption, 
hired a man to go and enlist in his stead, but after- 
ward felt he had not fulfilled a loyal citizen's part till 
he should give his own personal services. And he did 
so, and after months of service and sickness he received 
an honorable discharge from the hospital as a disabled 
soldier, but would never receive a cent from the Gov- 
ernment, though the injuries received were a lifelong 
affliction, and would have entitled him to a liberal pen- 
sion. Thus he willingly and cheerfully gave two men's 
services to his country, with no thought of compen- 
sation other than that which comes from a sense of 
duty nobly performed. 

Little David's happy childhood and early school- 
days were spent in the city of his birth ; and there, at the 
age of eight years, he made his start in business for 
himself, selling papers. 

He was of a genial, happy disposition, which made 
him an agreeable companion for elders, while always 
popular and a leader among those of his own age. 

Very early in his life appeared a hatred to anything 
like oppression, which manifested itself in his entire 
energies being directed against injustice wherever he 
saw it. When but a boy, he witnessed a very unequal 
combat between a large boy and a small one. David's 
sense of justice was at once appealed to, and he volun- 
teered his services to bring about fair play, when the 
affair was ended rather unpleasantly, and an officer in- 
terfered to "right" matters. David palliated his own 
offense, saying, "It was the big fellow I licked." The 
officer excused him with a small fine, saying, "I ex- 
pect he needed it." 



Childhood and Youth. ii 

His sympathies were always with the oppressed, 
the weak, the erring; for he truly loved humanity. 

In November, 1871, came the first great sorrow to 
the family in the death of a patient and loving wife and 
mother, whom David always regarded with the most 
affectionate tenderness. 

In speaking of any delinquencies in his own life, or 
of any member of the family, or any privations endured 
as motherless children, he 'd often remark with such ten- 
der pathos, "It would n't have been so had mother lived." 
Always excusing any seeming neglect or sternness 
in his father, who was ever a close student, and allowed 
nothing (not even the demands of his children) to dis- 
tract his hours of study. 

His most vivid recollection of his mother was of 
her helping him in his Bible-reading to keep up with 
the other children, who were all reading it through. 

In his childish conversation with the other chil- 
dren upon sacred things, the name of Jesus was men- 
tioned in rather a lighter way than she approved. 
Very mildly, but solemnly, yet with an emphasis which 
he never forgot, as she turned her large, expressive, 
tender, motherly eye upon her boy, she said, "David, 
I never speak the name of Jesus but with reverence." 
That gentle and loving rebuke penetrated his heart, 
and abode there, and seemed to ever impart to his ac- 
cents of that sacred name a peculiarly modified and 
touching mellowness. 

Ah! it can not but be true that a mother who guards 
with such care, not only the words, but also the very 
accents of her children's words, will not fail of the 
promise: "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, 
and great shall be the peace of thy children." 



12 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

David's filial obedience and brotherly affection were 
most admirable and exemplary. It is not remembered 
that he ever uttered an unbecoming or vulgar expres- 
sion in the presence of his sisters, whom he ever re- 
garded with utmost tenderness, and whose opinions 
he held in the highest esteem. After the mother's death 
he was untiring in his efforts to help care for the younger 
members of the family, being a constant comfort and 
companion to his eldest sister, who, from the age of four- 
teen, posed as mother and kept the family together. 

In the spring of 'J2 the family moved to Wheeling. 
Here David was employed in a rolling-mill, and sev- 
eral years later as a steel polisher, doing a man's work 
while but a youth, and was often censured by less 
speedy workmen for turning off so much work. It was 
too hard work for one of his years. His finger-joints 
were often so stiff in the morning he 'd have to take 
one hand to open the fingers of the other. Thus, early 
in life, as in later years, from his natural force of en- 
ergy, he followed the precept of the wise, "Whatsoever 
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." 

The family moved to their home in Portsmouth, 
Ohio, in the spring of '74, where David worked on a 
farm and market garden, going to school in the winter 
months, when he could be spared, and managing the 
garden in its season. Six years of his life were devoted 
to this work, himself doing a greater part of the labor, 
rising early and working late. His leisure hours were 
spent in study and mental improvement. 

Another great sorrow fell upon their home in '79 
in the death of a brother, ten years of age, by drown- 
ing while swimming in the river. This made a great 



Childhood and Youth. 



13 



blank in David's life; for there seemed more than a 
brotherly attachment between them. 

And when a neighbor, with a small family, had lost 
her husband, David wanted to adopt all her five chil- 
dren, to overcome in a measure the loss of his brother 
Gomer, and to help the poor widow. So his great, 
kind heart had room for every need he met. 

For a time he was employed as salesman for a whole- 
sale millinery store; but not being apt in identifying 
colors, he did n't remain there long, but entered the 
employ of a wholesale grocer in Portsmouth, O., where 
he remained two years. Then, in a decline of health, 
in the autumn of '82, he took a business trip through 
the South, descending the Mississippi from Memphis 
to New Orleans in a little sail-boat. 

It was in February, 1882, he was first convicted 
for sin; and, after much penitence and prayer, he real- 
ized his sins forgiven, and united with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church of Chaplain Street, Wheeling, 
W. Va., but the life upon which he immediately en- 
tered was not conducive to his advancement in the di- 
vine life. 

This hazardous expedition, as many after events in 
his life, shows his intrepid daring, his bold self-confi- 
dence, and his resolute courage in overcoming diffi- 
culties and making a way where there was none. 

Far up among the passes of the Himalayas there 
are rivers struggling to find their way through gorges 
which threaten at a hundred points to render the es- 
cape impossible. Yet on they press, and either find or 
form a channel. This is an attribute of genius; and 
David Lewis did likewise in both moral and religious 



14 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

effort; and, when consecrated to God, and cheered by 
His light, he pressed forward with a faith that 
" Laughs at impossibilities, 

And cries, ' It shall be done !' " 

For faith is not to be defeated when it is divine. 

With a strong determination, a brave heart, and a 
kind confidence in humanity, and with no weapon but 
a penknife for his personal defense, he started all alone, 
with a stock of optical goods for sale, down the "Fa- 
ther of Waters." Old men accustomed to the perils 
of river-life often told him he could never "make it" in 
that boat; but his brave heart (brave even to daring) 
knew no fear, and he pressed on. In later years, how- 
ever, in speaking of the exploit, he remarked, "Fools 
will run where angels fear to tread." Very many times 
the good hand of Providence was upon him in most 
miraculous deliverance and rescue, with many narrow 
escapes with his life. In St. Louis, Mo., he had a very 
severe illness of bilious fever, which he thought would 
surely terminate his life. He was nursed by strangers 
very kindly at a hotel. In the same city he had a most 
alarming and continuous nasal hemorrhage. He went 
to the river, and bathed his head and neck to check the 
bleeding, but without effect; and being so chilled by 
the water and so weakened by loss of blood that he 
could not walk, he was taken to his room; and, with 
his nostrils rilled with absorbents, and abundance of 
waste linen under his head, he lay face down upon the 
bed, fully expecting that was his last day upon earth, and 
upon waking in the morning he found everything under 
his head and about it — waste linen, sheet, pillow, mat- 
tress, and all — saturated with blood, and a pool upon 
the floor. 



Childhood and Youth. 



15 



At another time he found himself in the outer ed- 
dies of the most destructive whirlpool on the Mississippi, 
circling to its vortex. Almost the last ounce of his 
strength was employed as he bent to the oar, and es- 
caped with utmost exhaustion. And many times he 
narrowly escaped snags and rocks and other impedi- 
ments to navigation. How we see in this, as in the 
story of every eventful life, that which teaches the in- 
efficiency of human means, and the present control of 
a Supreme Agency ! 

When referring to these past experiences, it was with 
much gratitude and humble thankfulness that God ever 
saved his soul, and turned his feet into the path of 
righteousness, so often, with much fervor, saying, "O! 
if I had a thousand lives, they would all be devoted to 
that Savior who so wondrously delivered my soul from 
death and my feet from falling in the slippery paths 
of sin." 

" Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well 
When our deep plots do pall ; and that should teach us 
There 's a Divinity that shapes our ends, 
Rough hew them how we will." 

With the associations that such a life drew around 
him, it was easy for him to drift away from God, as 
he neglected Sabbath privileges and other means of 
grace in caring for his boat and his goods. He met 
many interesting characters, and was friendly, kind, and 
genial even to the most uncouth, ever ready to share 
his supplies and means with the poor and unfortunate, 
of which class he met many, often taking several travel- 
ers in his boat with him, freely helping them on their 
way, and sharing with them his comforts as with broth- 
ers, always winning their confidence and esteem, and 



1 6 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

never received any violence, or suffered any loss from 
malicious hands, though he afterward learned he 'd had 
for companions the outlaws of the country, shedders of 
innocent blood, who were fleeing" from justice. But 
who could do an injustice to such a nature as David 
Lewis? He was endowed with that "art of all arts," and 
even in what he was pleased to term his wicked (?) days 
was possessed with that beautiful trait of character which 
could see and bring out even the latent good in those 
he met. 

On one occasion several men were aboard. One had 
lost his hat in the river, and, unable to recover it, tried 
to purchase one of the fellow-passengers who had extra 
hats; and they, naturally enough, took advantage of the 
man's misfortune, and asked him double the value of 
a hat. The man, not able to pay so much, resigned him- 
self to his fate, and tied his handkerchief over his head 
till he could reach New Orleans. David, taking in the 
situation, took off his hat, and gave it to the man, say- 
ing that the man was bald, and needed a hat, but he 
had plenty of hair, and would not suffer. This inci- 
dent so touched the others that he had several hats 
offered him before he reached the city. 

While in New Orleans, he laid the foundation of his 
library, purchasing a number of rare and valuable books. 

Though in his boyhood he had been led a few times by 
evil associates into drinking intoxicants, it never became a 
habit; and he was by principle opposed to anything that 
would steal away from man the God-endowed gift of 
reason and intelligence. And while stopping at a hotel 
in his journey, he was the only male guest that did not 
drink. The others frequently asked him to drink with 
them, but he would always refuse. Finally they gave 



Childhood and Youth. 17 

him his choice of doing so willingly or being compelled 
to do so. Upon his still refusing, they held him down, 
and tried to force the liquor into his mouth. Their 
plans were thwarted, however, by a burly Irishman, 
who came in, and, seeing the difficulty, told them to let 
the fellow up, or he 'd "clean out the place." 

Small wonder that, in after years, when David Lewis 
preached on the subject of intemperance, he let it be 
known that every ounce of his weight and every drop 
of his blood should testify against the nefarious traffic. 

Small wonder that he could command no words 
strong enough, or paint no picture dark enough, to 
convey half the loathing and abhorrence he had for the 
business that is not content to take to perdition its own 
willing supporters, but will even use violence to draw 
the pure, the innocent, and the good down with them. 

He traveled over most of the Southern States, fitting 
glasses to defective eyes, and often giving to the needy 
that were unable to buy. 

The varied and numerous experiences of this jour- 
ney furnished a rich store of illustration, from which 
he drew in his ministry, to fasten religious truth or 
vividly convey some spiritual lesson. Many interesting 
and laughable incidents (among the Negroes and super- 
stitious whites) were related by him; for, though he al- 
ways viewed sacred things with seriousness, he had the 
happy faculty of seeing the pleasant side of things, and 
his fun-loving nature enabled him to draw mirth from 
most uncanny circumstances. 

One sad incident. — At one time he was thrown in 
company with an old man, who had passed the "sunny 
side" of life, as the world puts it, with no hope or cheer 
for his declining years. David had, by his kindness, 



18 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

won the old man's heart, which he opened to David 
concerning his fears of the future and his longing for 
that "hope which is within the vail." David, being in 
a backslidden state and careless himself concerning 
things of eternity, told him: "Never mind the future. 
Enjoy the present life; go on and do the best you can, 
and you '11 come out all right." Many, many times in 
his ministry he referred to this incident, and with tearful 
eyes and trembling voice and arm outstretched to 
heaven, he said: "O my friends! I'd give that right 
arm to the shoulder if I could but recall that oppor- 
tunity, and put my arm around that dear old man, and 
tell him, 'O my brother, there is mercy and pardon; 
Jesus died for you.' I feel I 'd gladly walk all the way to 
Florida to undo that wrong if it were possible. It seems 
to me that old man will meet me at the bar of God, 
and speak against me. But I know God in His mercy 
has pardoned me, and may He also save the dear old 
man!" 

" The deeds we do, the words we say, 
Into still air may seem to fleet : 

We count them ever past ; 

But they shall last, — 
In the dread judgment they 
And we shall meet !" —John KEB13. 



II. 

CONVERSION AND CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 

A FTER his return from the South, David Lewis again 
**• engaged with his former employer as grocer in 
Portsmouth, Ohio. His services were highly valued, 
and his salary was doubled to induce him to remain; 
but for some unaccountable reason — unless it be an 
overruling Providence that was preparing him for better 
things — he came home to Wheeling for a rest. 

Here the providence of God was beautifully mani- 
fested in turning him, with his teeming energies and 
his vivacious and fun-loving disposition, from the fas- 
cinations of the world to be an humble messenger of 
the gospel. 

In the summer of '84 a friend of his in the city of 
Wheeling, who was addicted to intemperance, and 
longed for freedom from its temptations, induced David 
to take him to the country, among the Quakers, twenty 
miles from the city. They went to the home of William C. 
and Judith C. Johnson, ministers, who had been helpful 
to the poor man in previous conflicts with the liquor 
demon; and, while helping another, David himself was 
helped. He was at this time in a backslidden state, and 
had embraced infidelity, having read many infidel books, 
and fortified himself in their doctrine; but he did not 
long escape the questioning of these Friends, who make 
it their chief business to endeavor to establish all within 
their influence upon that Sure Foundation. David's 

19 



20 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

vain confidence was shaken, his false peace disturbed, 
and his eyes opened to see his danger. He was brought 
under deep conviction, and spent many a prayerful, 
sleepless night. 

Neither did the consistent daily life of these joyful, 
happy Christians escape his notice. 

Men and women are on trial when they least sus- 
pect it. Many times, in giving an account of his own 
conversion, he has said, "I didn't care for argument; I 
could answer all that. I did n't care for fine sermons and 
good theology. I was ready for anything I might meet 
in a conflict of words; but when I found a home, subject 
to all the conflicts attendant upon family life, with its 
duties and cares, ruled by the Prince of peace; when I 
found a man who, like Joshua, said, both in word and 
deed, 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord;" 
when I found a happy man, one that could sing all day 
when the rain threatened to ruin his hay, and when 
farm hands were slow, indifferent, and careless; who, 
w r hen the cattle would break into the corn, could drive 
them out with a smile instead of a curse, I said, 'O, it 
is Divine power alone can do this.' " 

He was thus awakened to the sense of his danger- 
ous position, and began praying and asking the prayers 
of his friends. He attended prayer-meetings and preach- 
ing-services several times while in the country, and 
on all suitable occasions confessed his need and lost 
condition, made open confession of his wayward life, 
and maintained his position as a seeker after pardon; 
and, though he felt no assurance of his acceptance, he 
firmly asserted his intentions, by the grace of God, to 
hold on by faith till the victory was won. He was, 
from the first, very zealous in the cause of Christ; 



Conversion and Call to the Ministry. 21 

earnest in public as well as private prayer; was often 
leader of prayer-meetings, where God gave him power 
to win souls; and he often made family visits where he 
knew of any in distress, and gave short exhortations on 
all suitable occasions. Thus he continued, with much 
uneasiness of mind on his own account, and many prayer- 
ful and sleepless nights, with diligent reading of God's 
Word; struggling on for three weeks, not yet having 
the witness of the Spirit to his acceptance, or the peace 
and joy in believing. 

His heart was heavy. He felt he 'd been a hypocrite, 
and determined, at the next opportunity, to denounce 
religion, give up his efforts and his hold upon God, and 
tell his friends he had been deceived; that religion, what- 
ever it might be to others, to him it was a failure. He 
was soon to lead a cottage prayer-meeting in Wheel- 
ing. He arose, Testament in hand, in one corner of the 
room, with the previously-arranged words upon his 
lips; but the Spirit would not allow them to be uttered. 
This extremity of human effort was God's opportunity; 
and as he cast his eyes over the room, a flood of light 
illuminated his soul, the peace of God filled his heart, 
and the reality of things unseen took possession of him; 
and as he opened his mouth, God filled it with His own 
words; and with broken utterances, amid tears of joy, 
he said, "Brothers and sisters, if there 's but one per- 
son in this room to-night going to heaven, that 's Da- 
vid Lewis." The scene that followed can scarcely be 
described. The impenitent were brought to contrition, 
the lukewarm were revived, believers were built up in 
the most holy faith, and the work of soul-saving went on ; 
and there were added to the Church through his efforts 
more in a few weeks than through the pastor's work in 



22 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

several months. Thus God gave to his labors the seal 
of fruitful results in the conversion of souls from the 
very beginning. God's service was his delight, and 
though, as he often said, he was so ignorant of the 
Bible when he was converted that he did not know 
where to find the Book of Romans, he began a diligent 
study of the Word, feeling he must redeem the time. 
He often added the night to the day in his careful read- 
ing, and, while in the city, it was very easy for a soul 
so enthused with the powers of the world to come, 
and so awakened to the sense of the wickedness and 
sin about him, to find open doors for service, and he 
was too wise to allow any of his precious moments to 
be trifled away. 

He walked cheerfully, as well as valiantly, in the 
ways of God. He sought out the poor and needy and 
the fallen victims of intemperance, and took to them 
the gospel of salvation; and many a broken-hearted wife, 
then struggling in hopeless want and poverty, to-day 
rejoices in a happy, united home, worthy members of 
the Church of Christ, through David Lewis's early 
efforts for God. 

The Church immediately gave him work, and while 
yet a probationer in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
they gave him minister's license, and placed him in a 
vacancy caused by the illness of the pastor. 

The acceptance of this, however, was not without a 
severe struggle, much heart-searching, and pleading 
with God to know His will. He wanted to work for 
God, but preferred the little cottage prayer-meeting. 
He chose to seek out the by-way sinner, the fallen 
drunkard, the unloved, unknown, and unsought crimi- 
nal, and lift them up into the sunshine of God's pres- 
ence and peace. 



Conversion and Call to the Ministry. 



23 



And before he gave the final answer to the call, he 
spent the night in prayer, earnestly desiring to know 
God's will. His sister, who had always been the guid- 
ing star of his life and ever a comfort and help to him 
in his Christian work, said, "Now, David, God has an- 
swered my prayer, and is going to make you a 
preacher;" and he felt, if that had been her prayer, God 
would do it, and he must be obedient. 

He was much humbled that God should thus so 
plainly call one so ill qualified, as he felt; one so ig- 
norant of Divine things, and one who had willfully lived 
so far from God; and with throbbing heart, trembling 
limb, and eyes bathed in tears, after a sleepless night of 
prayer, he packed his satchel and started, with the 
parting kiss and blessing of a godly sister, on the first 
of many missions of love for the Master. 

" God's purposes will ripen fast, 
Unfolding every hour ; 
The bud may have a bitter taste, 
But sweet will be the flower." 

The Church where he was sent was a large and 
fashionable one. Among its members were educators, 
professors, and business men. He felt his insufficiency, 
his ignorance, and his want of preparation for the work 
before him, and was almost overcome by the task. He 
read, and prayed, and studied, wrote and rewrote his 
sermons, making the best preparation he could. He 
would often say, "I never can do it;" but his appeals to 
God reached the Throne, and God's strength was made 
perfect in his weakness. To use his own language, as 
he described his own experience: 

"I persevered for several weeks, holding on to God 
instead of allowing God to hold on to me. I would 
arise to speak, with my knees smiting together for very 



24 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

fear, my heart in my mouth, and my voice trembling at 
every sentence, and all the colors of the rainbow played 
upon the page before my eyes. I made my messages as 
short as would do. The hymns and prayers seemed of in- 
determinate length. The benediction was the most enjoy- 
able part of my service. It was torture to serve God in 
this way. I almost hated the sight of the church which 
was the scene of such self-mortification, and the sound 
of the bell that called the people together to hear the 
Word of God so poorly expounded. I could not en- 
dure it any longer, and I told the Lord about it. And after 
doing my best in preparation of heart and mind by 
much prayer and careful thought, I said: 'Now, Lord, 
I can't go on this way any longer. I 'm a disgrace to 
Thy cause, I dishonor Thy name, I 'm ignorant and 
uncultured in Thy Word ; but I love Thee, Lord, and want 
to serve Thee, and I '11 try once more. But, Lord, if 
Thou dost not deliver me from this man-fearing spirit, 
if Thou dost not lift me up above myself and the people, 
if Thou dost not take away this trembling, and give 
me confidence, / 7/ never preach again. 1 ,: 

This prayer was made in an extreme moment, and 
in all candor and good faith, and he often said: "I 
meant it. I fully intended to pack my grip and start 
home the next morning, thinking I had been mistaken 
in my calling." But O ! then God showed himself strong 
in behalf of him whose heart was perfect toward Him. 

" When thou sinkest, He will bring 
Beneath thy fall His own great wing." 

Yes, and that great wing lifted him above every 
earthly hindrance. He said: "I ascended the pulpit- 
stairs as light as a feather, almost walking in the air. 
My heart was no longer in my mouth, or my knees 



Conversion and Call to the Ministry. 



25 



smiting together. My voice was clear as a bell; and the 
people, they seemed as babies before me. My message 
was from the Holy One. I was on the King's business. 
I was impatient for the choir to finish, so I could de- 
liver my message. God's Spirit came. I was lifted up. 
I never saw those learned men and those critics in my 
audience. I saw only the Cross of Calvary, and felt its 
power in my own soul, and tried to make ' my hearers 
feel it. That day was a pivot point in my experience.' , 
And up to the close of his life he said: "Never, from 
that day to this, have I asked God for an evidence that 
I was called to preach. Never, from that day to this, 
have I doubted for a moment that God had made me a 
messenger of the Cross; and never, from that day to 
this, have I had any desire for worldly pursuits." 

And while opportunities for theological training, 
with flattering prospects beyond, were open to him, and 
the privilege of mastering the sciences of the schools, 
he devoted himself to what is in truth the flower and 
crown of all sciences — the science of salvation, the 
knowledge of that plan which came from heaven to 
guide men thither. This he entered upon as the passion 
of his life. He felt the King's business required haste, 
and that he must immediately enter the harvest-field be- 
fore him, caring more for the salvation of souls and the 
glory of God than for the allurements of prominence or 
the favor of men. What the feeble may attempt in 
paroxysms, or under intense excitement, his great heart 
did as a calm habit, a firm conviction, a steady purpose. 

In no place better than in the domains of religious 
effort can we find more satisfactory examples of con- 
centration of purpose and decisive action; and David 
Lewis's decided life gives one more proof of the effects 



26 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

that man can accomplish when he gives himself wholly 
to realize some cherished result. He was valiant for the 
good and true, and wrought out his purposes with un- 
swerving persistency. "This one thing I do," was a fa- 
vorite quotation from St. Paul; and he, like its author, 
knew how unwise it was to allow his powers to run to 
waste amid distracting pursuits. And that first great 
command, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy strength, and all 
thy mind," proclaimed to him as from the very Throne 
what should be first, last, and supreme in the soul — the 
one, over-mastering, all-absorbing principle. 



III. 

FIRST PASTORATE. 

T T IS engagement with this Church expired in a few 
* * months, and he entered into evangelistic work with 
Judith C. Johnson, among Friends in Short Creek 
Quarterly Meeting, holding successful revivals at 
Guernsey and at East Richland, O. At the latter place 
there was a large number of conversions of men and 
women, thirty of whom made application for Church 
membership with Friends, on condition that David 
Lewis would remain as their pastor; and, though this 
was foreign to any of his plans, and altogether a new 
thought to him, it seemed the voice of the people was 
the voice of God, and his name, with the others — pastor 
and people together — was accepted into membership by 
Short Creek Monthly Meeting. 

He felt the responsibility of his new position, and 
his own insufficiency, and gave himself to the study of 
the Word of God, and to prayer, lived a very studious 
and abstemious life, for many days together subsisting 
upon one scanty meal a day, that he might have the more 
time for reading and study. In this new bent, which 
strong conviction gave to his energetic mind, he dis- 
played much ardor, and his efforts were such as might 
be expected in a character like his when aroused by a 
Power that makes all things new. 

He was a model Christian man, prudent, prompt, 
tender, loving, resolute, fearing God, and having no 

27 



28 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

other fear. His calm judgment acquired the power 
which belongs to strong passion. His decision for good 
and his fortitude in enduring were resistless. 

He advanced in the knowledge of Divine things. His 
zeal, his devotedness, his fascinating persuasiveness, and 
the power of the truth he taught, won hearts to himself 
and to the Master he served. 

Short Creek Monthly Meeting recorded him a min- 
ister, December 22, 1886. 

All study and research impressed upon him more 
and more the realities of Divine truth. He cast aside 
every weight, he resisted every sin, and neglected noth- 
ing that might prove either the sincerity of his zeal or 
the fervor of his love. He dedicated his time, his tal- 
ents, his acquisitions, his substance, to the Lord, de- 
siring to present his whole being as a living sacrifice, 
expressive of his entire devotion. And as he regarded 
not his own interest, so neither did he seek his own 
honor. 

In all the changing circumstances of life he acted like 
a man whose treasures were laid up in heaven, and 
possessed of that crowning grace, 

" Humility — that low, sweet root 
From which all heavenly virtues shoot." 

Holiness in his life was religion shining. It was 
faith gone to work; it was charity coined into action; 
it was devotion breathing benediction on human suffer- 
ing. In his morning walks, which he was accustomed 
to take for healthful exercise, he would sometimes find 
a homeless traveler by the way, and would bring him 
to the house, and feed and clothe him. He never 
called them tramps. And when the stock of discarded 
clothing was exhausted, he has taken off his own wear- 



First Pastorate. 29 

ing apparel, that he might not refuse the call of the 
needy. And when it was suggested that the object 
might not be worthy, or that they were as able to work 
for a living as himself, he'd reply: "We don't know 
what sad misfortune has brought him to what he is. Poor 
fellow! He has a kind, good face, and may be as worthy 
as you or I; and we must help him." And then: "Who 
made us to differ from him? When I come to meet 
God, I 'd rather have helped a hundred undeserving 
poor than to have turned away one in real want. We 
must do it for Jesus' sake, who was kind to the un- 
thankful and to the evil. ,, 

Many a destitute outcast has walked miles to reach 
the door of David Lewis, knowing they 'd meet a friend, 
and receive help and cheer. He was never known to 
refuse a call to help any religious or benevolent enter- 
prise. If he had but a dollar in his pocket, it was given 
as heartily as though he had a thousand; and when kind 
friends would suggest that he could not afford to give 
so freely when he had no certain income, with a look 
of "holy horror" and a tone of "righteous indignation" 
at the thought of allowing personal interests to supersede 
the work of the Church, he would reply, "J can't afford 
to let God's cause suffer as long as I have a dollar." 

Faith was put to the test for temporal things many 
times in his early experience. The income being small, 
the strictest economy was required that the little library 
might grow, which was to him what tools are to a 
mechanic; and, though sometimes without fuel, sugar, 
butter, and other necessities, his zeal for the Master or 
his cheerfulness in His service were never affected by 
either fullness or scarcity. To be patient under trial is 
no small praise; to be content is more; but to be cheerful 
is the highest pitch of Christian fortitude. With the as- 



30 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

surance that he was safer in a storm that God sends 
than in a calm befriended by the world, he never made 
known his temporal needs to any human friend, but 
poured them into the Divine ear, with full assurance 
that our "God is able to deliver;" and most marvelous 
and immediate were the answers to such petitions, and 
our hearts would be humbled in gratitude, and he often 
exclaimed, "O God, I never again can doubt Thy power 
or Thy willingness. " The assurance that he was a child 
of a King to whom all the silver and gold belonged lifted 
him above harassing fears of temporal want, his absorb- 
ing desire for knowledge led to many personal inconven- 
iences and even discomfort and exposure, many times 
walking long distances, and carrying a heavy grip, that 
the railroad or livery fare might thus be saved and added 
to the little book fund. He fairly tore the heart out of 
every book that came within his reach, making it his very 
own, storing it away for future use, and he knew just when 
to use it and where to find it. His facts and ideas were 
arranged in his mind as his hat, clothes, and books were 
arranged in his room — in systematic order. His system 
and order in personal habits helped him in system and 
order in thinking and speaking. 

He read, as he did everything else, with a purpose, 
and that purpose was to make himself more efficient in 
his heaven-appointed mission. 

The deep humility and gratitude with which he ever 
regarded his own salvation often found expression in 
words like these: "I tremble to think how indifferent I 
was, but O, how merciful God was to spare my life to 
seek His face and favor ; and, friends, if God could save a 
David Lewis, convert him from a life of profanity and 
infidelity, change his tastes and inclinations from a pleas- 



First Pastorate. 



3i 



ure-seeking, fun-loving worldling to be an humble fol- 
lower of the Cross, take his feet from the downward path 
and set them on the King's highway, put a new song in 
his mouth, even praise to our God, He can save any- 
body. Glory! We do not say the sun ought to shine, 
a good tree ought to produce good fruit, seven and three 
ought to make ten. The sun does shine by its own light, 
a good tree does produce good fruit, seven and three do 
make ten, and has from everlasting. So living faith in 
Christ does produce a Christlike life." It did in David J 
Lewis. 

Early in the year 1888, after a successful revival at 
Winona, Ohio, held by Judith C. Johnson and himself, 
David Lewis was called to the pastorate of that place; 
many men and women were saved and added to the 
Church, and remain to the present to be shining lights for 
God and worthy supporters of the cause of Christ. Faith- 
fully and well did he serve his Master and His flock at this 
place for two years. 

His ministry was distinguished by a rich, chaste, and 
boundless imagination, and exhaustless resources of beau- 
tiful language and happy illustration; always ready and 
prompt, his conceptions seemed almost intuitive. He was 
skillful in putting into words the experiences of the inner 
life — a real translator of latent thoughts. He spoke what 
the hearer had often felt, but could not express, and never 
heard before, until he is surprised at hearing the most 
secret emotions of his innermost heart springing from 
those anointed lips as the gentle ripple of a silver stream. 

As the world's teacher he was first God's learner. His 
study opened outward to the world around, and upward 
to the heaven above, for no man can draw so near to the 
world's heart without first drawing near to God's. 



IV. 

WORK IN ADRIAN QUARTERLY MEETING. 

COMPILED BY JACOB BAKE)R. 

pvAVID J. LEWIS'S first acquaintance with Friends 
■ L ^ of Adrian was in the winter of 1890. He was sent 
to us of God, was much blessed of Him in building up 
the brethren in the most holy faith, and numbers were 
gathered into the fold of Christ and added to the Church 
throughout the quarter through his faithful ministry. 

He was called, as pastor, to Raisin Valley, where he 
lived for one year, giving his Sabbath mornings to that 
meeting and the evenings to Tecumseh, seven miles away. 
His heart seemed set upon this meeting, to build up its 
waste places. Their place of worship was a small meeting- 
house in the suburbs of the village. As a revival pro- 
gressed, and interest and numbers increased, a plan was 
laid for a new and larger church in a more convenient 
location. This plan was developed and executed the fol- 
lowing summer, and near the middle of November, 1891, 
the new church, carpeted and cushioned throughout, 
lighted and heated, was dedicated without a cent of debt, 
David using much personal effort and means in its ar- 
rangement and completion, and spent much time in solicit- 
ing funds. From this time David remained a member of 
Adrian Quarterly Meeting until he was taken to the Church 
triumphant. For several years he was superintendent of 
evangelistic work, always manifesting the sweet spirit of 
Christ, and showing himself skillful in many peculiarly 

32 



Work in Adrian Quarterly Meeting. 33 

trying circumstances. This work, together with wider 
evangelistic services, took him much from his flock and 
his home, and once, twice, thrice, yea, four times, the 
telegraphic wires bore to him the tidings that the little 
"sunlight" of their home was "fading away;" and these 
little lights each went out, leaving their arms empty and 
their home childless. 

"They seemed as cherubs, who had 
Lost their way, and wandered hither ; 
So their stay with us was short ! " 

And four times the "little dresses" were "put away," 
and four little, undeveloped buds of immortality, 

" Crowned with the beautiful flowers, 
Under the changing sky." 

David's intense nature was doubly intense in his affec- 
tionate fondness and tenderness to his "loved and own." 
These sorrows wounded deeply his sensitive heart; but 
these griefs, keen as they were, seemed only to increase 
his power to love, to serve, and to sacrifice, and he toiled 
on, with these thorns against his breast, only to sing, 
more sweetly: 

" Fade, fade each earthly joy, 
Jesus is mine." 

At Quincy. — In the winter of 1893 ne ne ^ a series 
of union services at Quincy, Michigan, in which scores 
of sduIs gave evidence of a saving knowledge of Christ, 
one of which we can not fail to emphasize: Thomas 
Johnson, a most intemperate man, his home one of 
wretchedness and toil, and, though otherwise a kind hus- 
band and father and a good workman, he was rarely free 
from the influence of intoxicants, thus disqualifying 
him for work, his faithful Christian wife supporting the 
3 



34 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

family by her own efforts. David visited him in his 
blacksmith-shop, and invited him to meeting, promising 
to go home with him to dinner. Thomas came, somewhat 
intoxicated, wearing a straw hat, though the weather was 
severe. David put his arm in his, and walked up the 
street to their humble home. He spent the afternoon 
earnestly and lovingly pleading with Thomas to forsake 
his life of sin, and submit to Christ. That night and two 
succeeding nights he went to the altar under the influ- 
ence of drink; the fourth night he went sober, and was 
converted. A few days after the old appetite came back, 
and having promised David that he would die before he 
would again taste anything intoxicating, he took a bottle 
of liquor he had secreted in his shop, threw it upon the 
ground, dropped upon his knees, and asked God to take 
away all desire for the "vile stuff;" and from that hour 
the appetite was gone forever. Of this convert, the Rev. 
H. D. Allen, of the Baptist Church, writes: "I well re- 
member one testimony in his new home about two years 
afterward. He said: 'I could not control my appetite. I 
used to think I 'd commit some crime, and get into prison, 
where I could not get liquor, or take the "Gold Cure;" 
but I had no money; but I took the "Blood Cure." Thank 
God, and how effectual! How precious the blood that 
did save and cleanse and deliver such a man as I was.' ' : 
Brother Allen says : "I took him and his wife and daughter 
into the Church, and I never had a more consecrated and 
faithful member. He was a good workman, and indus- 
trious, and soon got out of the old house into a new, well- 
furnished one, all the time giving liberally to the support 
of the Church. I never knew such a witness for Christ; 
no skeptic in all the community but was effectually 
silenced at the mention of Thomas Johnson's name as 



Work in Adrian Quarterly Meeting. 35 

evidence of God's saving power. He was with us a little 
over two years. One Monday he attended the funeral 
of a member of the Church, walked up town and back 
with his wife, and at the family altar read the fifty-eighth 
chapter of Isaiah. Each prayed, and in thirty minutes 
Thomas was in glory." David, in writing me, said, "That 
we have been instrumental in leading Thomas to Christ 
will ever be a source of great joy;" and now David has 
gone to join Thomas in praising the Savior who was so 
precious to them both. When I think of this one star 
in David's crown, I am made glad, and rejoice, and would 
hail my dear brother from the glory world. Thou hast 
gained infinitely more in being the humble instrument 
in the hands of God in bringing this one soul to glory 
than all earth could have given thee. I praise God as I 
write that David Lewis turned his back upon all the al- 
lurements of this world — its wealth, its pleasures, its hon- 
ors — and consecrated himself, with all his ransomed 
powers, to the one work of saving souls. I have had 
many evangelists assist me, but none that I prized so 
highly as David. He was one of the sweetest-spirited 
men I ever knew; everybody loved him, I suppose, be- 
cause he loved everybody. He spent three hours a day 
in private prayer in his room, was a wise workman, 
preached the Word faithfully, and had great power in 
prayer." 

We have the following account of the Springville work 
in the winter of 1893 and 1894: The first sermon was 
preached to a scattered congregation; but the truth took 
hold of the people, and as the knowledge of the meeting 
spread, the house was filled, people were deeply impressed, 
and the Lord's power was felt by all. One man remarked, 
when he heard of the meeting, "I am sorry, for it will be 



36 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

all excitement." He did not believe in the reality of re- 
ligion, but after attending the first meeting, said: "No 
man could offer such a prayer as Brother Lewis offered 
if religion were not a reality." He was the first in that 
meeting to find the Savior. No one could listen to Brother 
Lewis's discourses without being impressed that he 
preached what he believed, and believed and practiced 
what he preached. In the harness he was at his best. 

Meetings were also held at Clinton, Macon, Onsted, 
Jonesville, Ypsilanti, Hanover, and other places, with 
more or less success, according to the degree of zeal and 
unity among the Christian people. As an evangelist, 
David, being in close and constant fellowship with God, 
found the way to the hearts of the people with rare tact 
and wisdom, and all hold him in high esteem for his work's 
sake, and he became endeared to the Friends of Michigan 
so that the parting was keenly felt. 

Rest he could not not, such was his burden for souls, 
and when failing health came he could not comply with 
the earnest request of his many friends to slacken his ef- 
forts, but still put his life on the altar of sacrifice, and 
not till strength was well-nigh gone did he lay off the 
armor. 

The writer knew him personally from his first min- 
isterial service, being often associated with him in official 
work of the Church, and learned to love him for his 
open, earnest efforts to hold up the true standard of a 
life of holiness in accordance with the pentecostal ex- 
perience as taught and lived by the primitive Church un- 
der the teaching of the apostles. 

Truly, David was a living trophy of redeeming grace, 
and a workman of whom none need be ashamed. "The 
memory of the just is blessed!" 



V. 

LAST ILLNESS. 

P ARLY in the evening, just as the twilight was deepen- 
*-' ing into night, February 16, 1899, we can imagine 
the Savior thus addressing the Father: "Father, I will 
that David J. Lewis be with Me where I am, that he may 
behold My glory which Thou hast given Me." Then 
came the Lord Himself — not death — for, as Coleridge 
beautifully expresses it, "Death once was conqueror, but 
on the bed where a Christian expires, 't is death itself that 
dies." "We repose confidence in God who, out of so 
great a death, rescued us, and doth rescue, in whom we 
have fixed our hope that even yet He will rescue." 

It seemed to all that his life was too valuable to the 
Church for him to be taken now, and prayer was made 
daily for his recovery. He had a strong desire to live for 
the sake of the cause of Christ, which so inspired his 
heart; but when he thought of the Savior's "welcome 
home" he was "homesick for heaven." Not many weeks 
before the last, he clipped the following poem from a 
paper, saying it expressed his own feelings : 

" My feet are weary, and my hands are tired, 
My sonl oppressed. 
And I desire what I have long desired — 
Rest — only rest. 

'T is hard to toil when toil is almost vain, 

In barren ways ; 
'Tis hard to sow and never garner grain 

In harvest days. 

37 



38 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

The burden of my days is hard to bear, 

But God knows best; 
And I have prayed, but vain has been my prayer, 

For rest — sweet rest. 

'Tis hard to plant in spring and never reap 

The autumn yield. 
'T is hard to till, aud when 't is tilled, to weep 

O'er fruitless field. 

And so I cry — a weak and human cry — 

So heart-oppressed; 
And so I sigh — a weak and human sigh — 

For rest — sweet rest. 

My way has wound across the desert years ; 

And cares infest 
My path, and through the flowing of hot tears 

I pine for rest. 

'T]was always so. When but a child I laid 

On mother's breast 
My wearied little head, e'en then I prayed, 

As now — for rest. 

And I am restless still. 'Twill soon be o'er; 

For down the west 
Life's sun is setting, and I see the shore 

Where I shall rest." 

On returning the slip, the remark was made, "That 
do n't seem like you, dear; you always chose labor rather 
than rest." He replied: "Yes; but I can't work as I once 
did; I can't make things go as I used to do." 

Many things in his later ministry pointed to the rapid 
ripening for this harvest, and he would weave into his 
sermons such snatches of poems as indicated a spirit dwell- 
ing more in the invisible than in the present world — as 
one who was a pilgrim and a stranger her. 



Last Illness. 



39 



Toplady's lines on "Patience" he often read with much 
fervor : 

"When languor and disease invade 
This trembling house of clay, 
'Tis sweet to look beyond the cage, 
And long to fly away. 

Sweet to reflect how grace Divine 

My sins on Jesus laid ; 
Sweet to remember that His blood 

My debt of suffering paid." 

The decline in health and strength was steady and con- 
stant for the last year or more, and all acknowledged that 
Divine interposition was the only hope as his frail form 
slowly wasted away; but as the outward man perished, 
the inward man was renewed day by day, and his view 
of Divine things grew keener, clearer, and more vivid 
as he approached that "bend in the river of life that sets 
its current heavenward." 

It was often remarked by members of his own Church 
and others: "We can't afford to miss one of those heavenly 
messages; we won't hear them long." And as he slipped 
slowly away, we could only watch and pray and wait and 
trust; but his efforts to ever do his best for God's cause 
in reading and studying and preparing his own heart 
were unabated until flesh and heart literally failed, and he 
was granted the petition he so often made while in health : 
"And when we fall, may it be with the armor on, in 
sight of heaven, crowned with immortality, saved by the 
power of an endless life through the merits of Jesus Christ, 
our Lord." 

So far was he from willingly relinquishing work, 
even under his physical disabilities, that, on penning his 



40 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

last entry in his diary on New-Year's Day, 1899, he wrote: 
"God being my Helper, I hope to make this the best year 
of my life. I shall pass the fortieth milestone in my life's 
journey this year, should my life be spared to see it. I 
shall have preached fifteen years, and O, how I am re- 
minded of how little I have accomplished in comparison 
to my hope and early dreams! Yet I am all the Lord's, 
and, health and grace given, shall be delighted to re- 
double my diligence, and make full proof of my ministry, 
and show myself a faithful workman and minister of the 
New Testament in the spirit of love." 

It is worthy of note that in a very recent sermon, as 
he portrayed the power of Divine grace, he suddenly 
made a pause of unusual length, as if to gain rapt atten- 
tion for the reception of profound truth, and with face up- 
turned and eyes lifted heavenward, with that gentle move- 
ment of the head from side to side, as was wont to ac- 
company solemn statement, and that rapid patting of the 
foot, as the vibrations of a minor key of some stringed 
instrument, which gesture added solemn and burning em- 
phasis to Divine impulse, he said: "Ah! my friends, as 
sure as there is a God in heaven, there is a time coming 
when David Lewis will need all there is of Divine grace 
in the boundless storehouse of God's infinite fullness !" 

And, as feeling a closer intimacy and attachment to 
Divine companionship than to human, he 'd often repeat: 

"Abide with me ! fast falls the eventide, 
The darkness deepens — Lord, with me abide ! 
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, 
Help of the helpless, O abide with me. 
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; 
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away; 
Change and decay on all around I see; 
O Thou, who changest not abide with me !" 



Last Illness. 41 

The Lord so kindly let him know that the time of 
departure was near at hand, and the day before the last, 
he said: "I think it will be settled to-morrow," and on the 
morrow he spoke calmly and lovingly of many things of 
the past and hopes for the future, and made a few re- 
quests concerning some of his effects, and sent messages 
of love to absent dear ones, whose hearts were breaking 
that they were not permitted to minister to his wants in 
those last sad hours or catch the parting words from his 
failing lips. And as we clasped each other's hand with 
the intensity of that power that first drew our hearts into 
one, we had a sweetly solemn paradise together, and that 
"holy flame" which thirteen years of joy and sorrow, 
pleasure and pain, had only caused to leap higher and 
higher, that day joined heaven to earth. 

" O the tender ties which, broken, 
Drain off the soul of human joy, 
And make it pain to live, — 
When such friends part, 
"Tis the survivor dies." 

He was capable of great things ; capable of imparting 
great happiness. His words, even in his weakness, were 
cheery and animated, and the patience and humility that 
marked his life remained the crowning virtue of his clos- 
ing days, and every little comfort or luxury was received 
with expressions of gratitude. Often, when his coun- 
tenance manifested uneasiness or weariness, and he was 
asked if he were suffering, he 'd reply: "O no, I 'm only 
tired, so tired ; but God is so good, I do n't have an ache 
or a pain. How we ought to praise God! I 'm not down 
a-bed, as so many dear sufferers are, with painful bed- 



42 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

the house until the last day, when he said, "I think I '11 
rest to-day; I do n't feel like getting up." 

As he spoke of his life-work for Christ, and reviewed 
God's goodness, how he upbraided himself for having ac- 
complished so little for God; how plain to him were his 
mistakes; how ever present, in his weakness, were his 
failures, which he seemed to see above all his successes! 
Ah, friends, if such thoughts of duty unfaithfully per- 
formed should cause a passing regret in the closing hours 
of a saint so devout, of one who, ever since he knew God, 
had lived for Him alone, of one who never drew a selfish 
breath, but whose crowning ambition and only aim in 
life was to honor the Christ who died for him, what must 
be the dying regrets of those "who have a name to live, 
and are dead," of those who serve God for motives other 
than pure love alone, or who serve Him not, of those 
who never felt the responsibility of being ambassadors 
for Christ? 

Ah ! what will be the dying regrets of those who never 
sacrificed a single comfort or luxury that some darkened 
life might be brightened, of those who never spent a sleep- 
less night or an anxious thought over the sinful world 
for whom Jesus died? 

"jUp ! 't is no dreaming time. Awake ! awake ! 
Lo, while ye trifle, the light sands steal on, 
Leaving the hour-glass empty, and thy life, 
Gliding away, stamps wisdom on its hours." 

All through his sickness, as we watched by his side, 
in his restful, half-asleep moments, he would be speaking 
half-indistinctly, and always about the work of the Church, 
or words of prayer or exhortation, or leading some peni- 
tent soul to Christ. Thus his latest breath, even in his 



Last Illness. 43 

dreams, was employed in exalting the theme that had 
been so dear to his heart while in health. 

As friends sat by his side, he spoke of his fond hopes 
for them, his tender love to them, and his disappointment 
that he had not been able to do more for the little Church, 
and expressed his desire that the last rites should be 
simple and inexpensive. 

The following is his dying message, in his own words, 
which God gave us strength and grace to pencil down 
calmly as you now read. Yes, that pinnacle of sorrow 
became the pinnacle of grace, upon which may our feet 
ever rest 

" Till we shall see Him face to face, 
And tell the story, saved by grace !" 

"I die with a hearty good will to all brother ministers 
with whom I 've labored, a feeling of universal benev- 
olence to every man, woman, and child, and a sincere 
Christian fellowship with all God's people. I never had 
occasion to thank God for more kindly consideration, 
more tender sympathy, or more hearty good will from 
any congregation I ever served. I only regret I was not 
able to do more for God and the Church, but if He now 
takes me to Himself, I '11 praise Him for evermore, not for 
any good I ever did, no sermon I ever preached, no book 
I ever read, no money I ever made, but all through the 
merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. And in the morning 
of the resurrection, when Christ shall appear, my bones 
shall rise from the shore of the Pacific." 

So divorced was he from thoughts of self, and so ab- 
sorbed for the good of others that, in nearly the last lucid 
moments, as a sister sat by his side speaking of Divine 
things, he inquired about her husband, who was not in 



44 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

the fold of Christ, saying: "I had such a pleasant visit 
with him not long ago, dear fellow. God bless him! I 
found him a little tangled up; I tried to deal honestly 
with him. But this is what I wanted to say, sister : I want 
to pray, and I want thee to pray." Then he thus began: 
"Now, Lord, this is the last time I '11 make this petition. 
I 'm not going to ask Thee any more. I have no desire 
of my own. Do Thy own pleasure with me. 'Living 
or dying, I am the Lord's.' Heal me now, Lord, or take 
me to Thyself, all through the merits of Jesus Christ our 
Lord, and I '11 praise Thee for evermore; but if Thou 
would only let Ella go too; but I know Thou wilt care 
for her for Jesus' sake." 

And when it was evident to all that his spirit was on 
the borderland, and his tongue, that had so long spoken 
of the glories of our God and King, began to fail, he was 
asked, "Do you feel the Lord is coming for you, dear?" 
He replied : "O yes, dear ; He 's here now ! Glory to Jesus ! 
I 'm so happy! I 'm so happy!" And when the tongue 
would no longer express the joy of his new-found in- 
heritance, he turned his body over with an unnatural 
strength, with his face towards us, and a heavenly radiance 
illuminating it, as he laughed aloud, amid the half-dis- 
tinct utterance, "So happy! so happy!" And we saw he 
had already awaked in the perfect likeness of Him whose 
image he had reflected in life. Quietly he lay, with a few 
symptoms of inward struggle. Fearing he might strangle 
or have distressing cough, silently, but earnestly, 
prayer was made that God would prevent those painful 
symptoms, and gracious was the answer, and the last 
hour or more was as quiet and restful as a babe on its 
mother's bosom. And clasping his hand, he gave the 
last confirming assurance by a loving pressure, as the text 



Last Illness. 45 

was repeated that we had taken for our comfort during 
his illness: "Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the vic- 
tory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

A day or two before the last, Brother G. D. Watson 
came in to pray with him. He seemed to realize God's 
thoughts for David, and after a prayer of resignation and 
hope in the unseen reward so near at hand, he sang the 
following : 

" Down in the valley, among the sweet grasses, 
Walks my Beloved ; His footprints I see. 
Haste I to follow Him, Savior and Lover ; 

How the winds whisper Thy dear name to me ! 

Gentler Thy voice than the whisper of angels ; 

Brighter Thy smile than the sun in the sky. 
Gather me tenderly close to Thy bosom; 

Faint with Thy loveliness, there let me die." 

David expressed admiration for the sentiment of the 
hymn, and said: "I can only say for myself, 'Lead, Kindly 
Light,' and I will follow; I would not choose my way." 
On returning from his last preaching service, noticing 
that his efforts were more deliberate and easy than was 
his custom, the remark was made, "You are preaching 
more easily to yourself; you are learning to preach with 
less exhaustion." It was taken as an encouraging omen 
when it was just the opposite. Ah, how slow we are to 
credit the assurance of coming sorrow! In speaking to 
a friend the last day he lived, he referred to that occa- 
sion, saying: "Ella made a remark not long ago which 
showed me I was failing. I knew if I did not put energy 
and effort into my sermons it was because I had none." 

But now the course has been finished, the race has 
been run, the good fight has been fought, the faith has 
been kept. The crown has been won and gathered from 



46 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

the field of conflict; the armor, bright with constant use, 
laid off for the robe; the sword laid down for the palm; 
prayer turned to praise, faith to sight, hope to glorious 
fruition, and, in the bosom of Infinite Love, abiding for- 
ever. 

When we contemplate his redeemed soul thus in the 
fullness of his promised inheritance, in the glorious light 
that shines from Calvary, methinks, could he speak to us 
with the approving smile of the Master, whose he was and 
whom he served, he 'd repeat what he said while he was 
yet with us: "What matter if our bed be hard or our 
board be scant; what matter if we are misunderstood, neg- 
lected, and ostracized if, at last, we reach the shining 
shore, and hear, from those sacred lips, the words that 
will heal every wound, rest every tired nerve, soothe our 
fevered brow, and bind up our broken hearts forever, 
Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord?' " 



VI. 

EXTRACTS FROM HIS DIARY. 

"THE following miscellaneous quotations, culled from 
* his diary at different places in revival work, written 
when all alone, and for no eyes but his own, coming from 
the "low-down depths" of his heart, where all true living 
is done, reveal, as no analysis of his character can do, the 
close and vital union with Christ, the True Vine, and the 
power that sustained him in his journeying often, in perils 
in the city, in perils in the country, in perils by sickness, 
in weariness and painfulness, in watching often, in cold 
and weakness, in fasting and prayer; how he spent and was 
spent in the cause of Christ, and how utterly he disre- 
garded his own health and comfort when the work for 
souls was considered: 

January I, 1895. — "Jesus only" shall be my motto this 
year, and by grace I hope to fill my fleeting months with 
my love and labor for souls. God help me to submerge 
my appetites and passions beneath the flood of my con- 
scious love for my Savior, that He might be able to reign 
in my body, soul, and spirit! 

2d. — Onsted, Mich. Am very well. Glory to my 
Healer! Had good meeting last night; nine more new 
seekers. Praise the Lord! Interest very good; large 
audience, and I dislike very much to close, but must in 
order to fill next appointment at Quincy. God is blessing 
me much, and I walk five or six miles a day for exercise. 

pth. — Quincy, Mich. O God, aid me this day to stir 
47 



48 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

up saints and sinners! Read James iv especially. I am 
condemned for talking needlessly of others. Preached 
on Mark v, 1-20. The meeting needed a sermon on holi- 
ness, and this did not do. God, help me to hear Thy 
voice! 

nth. — Am real well; sleep good; am rubbed nightly 
with good effect; my cold baths are refreshing. Several 
conversions. Preached on 1 John i, 9; P. M., on Acts 
xvii, 16, to the Church. A number of conversions and 
renewals. God help me to deal more with the Church 
in revivals, as they, nearly invariably, are in the way of 
conversion of sinners. 

15th. — Am well, but jaded. Want to pray much to- 
day. O, God is so good to me! I have so many bless- 
ings. Am O, so tired! Went to my room, and cried to 
God to help me. Preached on "The Jailer," Acts xvi, 30. 
People hard to reach. 

18th. — Am some rested, but nervous. O, that God 
may enable me to live on Him ! Had the best altar service 
since coming here. I never had so much power in prayer, 

ipth. — Am real well; alcoholic baths, with God's bless- 
ing, gave me good rest, though I had been very tired. 
Good meeting; great conviction; several stood for pray- 
ers, but no conversions. 

20th. — Burdened with the work ; can't shake it off, but 
follows me to bed. God help me to overcome! A number 
of sinners stood for prayers. 

21st. — The meeting was weak, as I did not pray 
enough; too tired. 

25th. — Am persuaded the more sinful men are the less 
they feel themselves sinners unless attended with some 
physical reminder, as whisky or the opium habit; then 
Satan tells them they are too bad. Had a wonderful 



Extracts from His Diary. 



49 



prayer-meeting. Preached on Isaiah xxviii, 17. Four 
conversions. Glory! 

February 3d. — In a new field. Am tired, but well. No 
time to pray. Short altar service. Not much life. God 
help the Church ! 

$th. — Very cold; everything frozen in my room — water 
and ink, and myself, too, almost. I tremble for my throat. 
O, that God would give me victory and power of body 
and soul to endure hardness for Him! God, make me an 
extraordinary Christian for His praise! 

6th. — Cold has affected my throat, and am much 
hampered by hoarseness. God, help me to trust Thee for 
deliverance! 

ph. — Am well, save my breast and bronchitis; but 
am trusting all to God for healing. Altar full, seeking 
pardon or holiness. Believers getting power. O that God 
would come to Zion! 

8th. — Spent the day reading Carradine on "Holiness 
in Symbol" and in earnest prayer. O, that I could know 
the spirit of abiding, prevailing prayer! God help me, 
and teach me the "art of arts!" Spent the evening in 
prayer for the work, but did not have much liberty. O 
God, help me to draw more and more into a life of prayer! 

10th. — Glory to God! The Lord gave me victory for 
my throat, and I preached with a clear voice. 

nth. — Am well, but depressed about the meeting. I 
failed almost utterly last night. The illustrations were 
too cold; then I did not get down to the people, nor vary 
the mode of appeal and address. God, help me, for Jesus' 
sake, to learn to preach! I got the victory over regard 
for man in my heart I was unconscious of. God help me! 
Four or five converts. 

1 2th. — Not quite rested over Sabbath's work. God, 
4 



50 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

give me more vitality for Jesus' sake ! Several converted, 
but the work moves heavily on. No men to push it; all 
taken up with secret societies. O God, turn the tide of 
affairs in the Church for Jesus' sake! 

16th. — Am real well. Am a marvel to myself. Walked 
several miles, and studied as I went. 

23d. — At home. Am well, but digestion impaired. 
Have dropped down, physically, in my relaxation from 
work. I must forego all rich eating if I would succeed 
in my calling. God help me! O, how it pays to pray! 
I will do more than ever. 

March 2. — Beginning a new work. Visited saloons 
to-day, and was much helped in one in a season of prayer. 

4th. — Had a sweet season of prayer with Brother R. 
in my room. Talked too much about people to feed or 
fatten the soul. I asked God, on my knees, to forgive 
me, and by His grace divine will guard my lips against 
this sinful tendency. O tongue! 

ph. — A thousand praises well up in my soul, although 
the meeting did not yield souls as I had hoped and prayed. 
O God, help me to-day to prevail for this place ! Preached 
on Isaiah lvii, 15. Eight or nine conversions. 

nth. — Very weary, O, so tired; but God is so good 
to us. Preached on Mark x, Bartimeus. Four at the 
altar. But I 'm too tired. God help me! 

April ph. — Am burdened about the meeting, and I 
feel the effect on my nerves. God help me! 

August 24th. — Am well, but weary. I must take more 
exercise, but I can not carry on revival work without 
a burden on my heart and a tax on my nerves. 

December 31st. — I have tried in '95 to do all my duty; 
but, D. V., 1896 shall be better in every way by grace 
divine. Good-bye, old friend "Diary." 



Extracts from His Diary. 



51 



January, 1896. — Resting at home. Read a score or 
more pages, but can not stand much. 

" How fast the time does roll ! 
Another year has come 
Of work for body, mind, and soul ; 
And cheer — it has its sum. 

To me the task is given 

To load the passing time 
With treasure for the home in heaven — 

To make my life sublime." 

12th. — Am not strong, yet God is with me. 

15th. — Am better, but do not have time nor strength 
to study and read as I could wish, but, by God's grace, I 
shall do the best I can for Jesus in every possible way. 

18th. — Took dinner out. Prayed less, and, of course, 
preached poor. Two converts. Glory to God! 

21st. — The work moves heavily. Some conviction, 
but the mass seemed unmoved. O God, bring victory! 
Three young men staid for prayers. 

2 2d. — Got an invitation to a dance; am at a loss to 
know how to treat it. May God lead and keep me alike 
from fear and presumption for Jesus' sake! 

26th. — Sabbath. God helped me to preach on Isaiah 
xlvi, 12, 13. Fifty, perhaps, stood for prayer. Seven con- 
verted. Glory! 

27th. — Have caught cold; am very hoarse, but trust 
God for victory. 

28th. — Got the victory over my hoarseness, and 
preached fairly well. 

February 8th. — Wofully tired. Visited some; had a 
good time; but broke down. Had too much to carry in 
meeting. I had to be rubbed all night, and laid in bed 
till two o'clock next day. 



52 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

pth. — Almost sick, and sadly broken. Tried to rest, 
and was able to preach a weak sermon on Jude 20. Ten 
converted; house overflowing; meeting closed. 

nth. — Resting at home ; quite tired. 

15th. — Left home to engage in union meetings. 

igth. — Fairly a blizzard. Cold hard on a revival, yet 
God has His way in the storms, and so it is all well, very 
well. I am doing all I can stand. 

March pth. — Visited, and had the joy of leading a sick 
man, who had been very wicked, to Christ. Glory! Four 
days' rest at home; then entered upon a new work. 

iyth. — Greatly burdened for the work; all I can pos- 
sibly do. 

2 1st. — Spent the A. M. in prayer; it was a great bless- 
ing to me. 

April 12th. — Not quite well, but intended to go into 
another meeting; but our darling Edna seemed quite sick, 
and I remained at home. 

13th. — Our darling Edna's life went out at midnight. 
It is well, yet we are bowed and sorrow exceedingly. 
Our darling gone, how lonely and sad we shall be! Yet, 
7 is well. 

14th. — We are broken up in the death of our little 
darling, and we bow to God's will and way. He knows 
best. Friends and neighbors are kind indeed. 

15th. — Sister Rosanna came; she is a great comfort 
to us. We are almost prostrated. 

16th. — Laid the little form of our darling to rest in 
Tecumseh Cemetery. Burdened for the work; it moves 
slowly. 

July 3d. — In revival work in Maine. 

8th. — Am happy, but feel keenly the work's slow 
progress. 



Extracts from His Diary. 53 

nth. — The work goes so slowly it almost crushes me. 
No enthusiasm; lukewarm; ease-loving. O, that God 
could shake this place for Jesus' sake. 

2fih. — I am jaded; rested poorly. O, that God would 
come in power and abundant grace! I preached on Cor- 
nelius. Good feeling, but we need power. 

August 3d. — Had a pleasant A. M. reading. Preached 
on "Faith." O, that God would give us victory! 

ph. — Had a good prayer service; seven raised hands 
for prayer. O, that God could be honored! 

14th. — Have a great depression in my lungs, but God 
gives the victory. The Church not burdened nor work- 
ing as it should. 

28th. — Am well, but the work moves so slowly. It 
is all I can possibly stand ; but the work is the Lord's. His 
name be praised for all and forever! O, that He would 
make bare His arm! 

September pth. — Am real well; slept well, and I feel 
like going on; but took a cold; throat sore, and hard 
cough; but my trust is in God. 

nth. — Am better of my cold, but as weak as water, 
can scarcely stand or walk, but went to meeting at night. 

12th. — Am much better. I napped and prayed, and 
God much helped me. Glory to His name! 

13th. — Am weak from coughing, but my cold is bet- 
ter. 

December 17th. — The work moves heavily. The 
Church won't honor the Holy Ghost. 

18th. — My throat bothers me somewhat more than 
common, and is quite sensitive and susceptible to cold. 

ipth. — More jaded, as I slept but little, and my throat 
bled considerable when I coughed. 

January 1, 1897. — At "home, sweet home," resting, 



54 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

owing to my throat hemorrhage. I am enjoying my read- 
ing and study, loafing and resting. May God enable me 
to do more in my study this year than formerly! I feel 
the need of culture, especially discipline of mind, and I 
enter the work with hope and enthusiasm. 

30th. — Am getting stronger. I need to write and 
think more for mental discipline, yet to get the time and 
make it a habit seems quite an effort; but I shall make 
it by God's help. 

31st. — Sabbath. Am quite up to par. My throat 
shows the benefit of rest and exercise at home, but I had 
not prayed enough to give me boldness and assurance. 
God help me! Preached, A. M., on 2 Cor. v, 17, and 
P. M., on 2 Cor. v, 20. 

February 1st. — A good Monday, without a tint of 
"blue." Glory to God! 

yth. — Am reading "History of the Reformation." Am 
not up to par. My recovery is slow. 

nth. — Had a sweet season of prayer, in which God 
much helped my body. 

26th. — Reading "Reformation," and enjoying it. 
Worked in my study, and went to see a sick young man, 
who was too low to be seen. 

2Jth. — Called again, and found him very low, and un- 
saved. Poor, dear fellow! Prayed, but I do not know 
what to hope. 

March 8th. — At home, doing ordinary work of a pas- 
tor. Reading "Reformation" and studying the "Book of 
books." I must live more in the fresh air, and exercise 
more systematically. 

26th. — Started this morning on my trip East. Feel 
depressed, but looking to God for help. O, that He might 
liberate my poor, sick body! I feel He will. 



Extracts from His Diary. 55 

April ipth. — Philadelphia. Got a telegram calling me 
home to sick baby. 

20th. — Arrived at home 10 P. M. Found my dear 
baby needing me very much. O, I am so glad I have 
come. 

May 5th. — Inez seemed better, but we greatly fear. 

6th. — Our darling Inez was called from us this morn- 
ing at 5 o'clock. How sad to mourn the loss of another 
only child! Sad and strange; yet 'tis well. God's will 
be done! We prayed, hoped, lost, and submit. 

ph. — So lonely and sad, but God greatly helps us to 
triumph over all. 

16th. — Feel fairly well, but conscious of lack of prepa- 
ration for Lord's-day work. Preached on Luke xii, 32. 

We forbear to chronicle the oft-repeated record of 
weakness and weariness of the last sad year. How, from 
day to day, striving against disease, hoping against hope, 
sweetly, patiently, and perpetually he endured and ripened 
a character into a loveliness as near perfect as it seems 
possible for humanity to attain. So often, with most 
pathetic earnestness, would he say, "No one but God in 
heaven can ever know the physical limitations I endure 
in doing my little work for Him; but, bless God, He 
knows it all!" 

His knowledge, his health, his time, his means, his 
every endowment, were employed for the good of man- 
kind. He prayed, he wrote, he read, he preached, summer 
and winter, day and night; he gave, he labored, he suf- 
fered, he endangered, nay, destroyed his health and his 
life, in his service for souls. He practiced Paul's words, 
"Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might 
finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have 
received of the Lord Jesus." (Acts xx, 24.) 



VII. 

TRIBUTES. 

THOMAS ARMSTRONG. 

T"\AVID J. LEWIS was a man of profound convic- 
*^ tions. Whatever he attempted to accomplish, en- 
gaged all his powers. He was an earnest searcher after 
the truth as revealed in Jesus Christ, and as the great 
facts of redemption were made clear to his own under- 
standing, he seemed to have no rest only as he could be 
declaring it to others. 

Endowed as he was with an unusually retentive mem- 
ory and a broad intellectual grasp, his presentation of 
the truth was vivid and clear, sometimes almost startling; 
at others, grand and lofty as those mighty ranges of 
God's love, so clear to his own mind, were brought to 
view in language so elegant and chaste as to appeal to 
the admiration of all. Though physically frail when we 
knew him, there was continued evidence of the illumin- 
ating and upholding energy of the Divine Spirit, so that 
none could fail to see that he was continually leaning 
upon a power greater than his own. His sermons were 
clear, logical, and deeply spiritual. In them there was 
a depth and breadth that convinced the understanding, 
and a tenderness of love that often unlocked the foun- 
tains of the great deep in dark hearts that had hitherto 
seemed to be impervious to the reception of truth. 
During the four-weeks' revival-meetings at Whittier, in 
the spring of 1898, the manifestation of God's power to 

56 



Tributes. 57 

use his devoted followers to His glory was remarkably 
evident. 

Day after day the gospel stream flowed — notwith- 
standing there was continued physical weakness — result- 
ing in the reclaiming, conversion, and sanctification of 
more than a hundred persons. 

Of these, a number of cases were of peculiar interest 
because of circumstances surrounding them. During our 
recent Yearly Meeting, an hour was devoted to a memo- 
rial service in memory of Dr. Nicholson and David J. 
Lewis, when many availed themselves of the opportunity 
thus offered to express their appreciation of the value of 
the services of our dear, departed brother as a minister, 
and of the large place that had been made in the hearts 
of the members of the Church, and also of the community 
at large, by his social qualities, in which was continually 
manifested his genial spirit, which was quickened, mel- 
lowed, and illuminated by the Divine presence. We feel 
that the loss to the Church, by the removal of our gifted 
brother, is great, and that we are utterly unable to under- 
stand the purposes of our Father in it; and yet we would 
not call the wisdom of it in question, as faith can only say, 
"Thy will be done," and worship, and look up. 

A Tribute of Love. 

R. ESTHER SMITH. 

A tribute of love to the memory of that young and 
gifted servant of God, David J. Lewis, on behalf of many 
that knew and loved him at Long Beach, California. 

'T is not to write an eulogy, as that would be, could 
he speak, contrary to his wishes. He would deprecate 
any praise that would exalt him in any wise except such 
as exalts the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which made 



58 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

him so useful in life and triumphant in death. But that 
grace was in him so winningly manifest, there was in his 
life so much to admire in the devolopment of it, that it 
is due to the power of the grace of God that words of 
testimony be written. 

However exalted may be the praise given in com- 
memoration of our departed pastor and friend, it will not 
transcend the merit of its object or offend the taste of 
the most scrupulous and truth-loving critic. 

To consecrate the ashes of the dead, and to remember 
and practice what was good and generous in their lives, 
is the most acceptable service we can render. Let this 
be the tribute we pay the memory of our departed brother. 
The Benjamin of our household of faith has gone from 
us for a season, yet we are better and richer because 
he lived among us. Words of ours can not do him jus- 
tice, nor can we, in fitting language, portray the power 
of his influence among the people, or that exquisite ten- 
sion of mind which developed his genius and understand- 
ing. He was courteous and gracious to all, and in- 
gratiated himself with the ignorant, the unfortunate, and 
oppressed. His unwavering kindness of heart had room 
for all. No one, regardless of color or condition, looked 
into his face, and failed to know him as a friend and 
brother. He was always quick with sympathy and suc- 
cor; his hand was always open to soothe distress, to aid 
the feeble, and to answer every call of friendship. Who 
ever appealed to him in vain for relief or comfort? If 
he had a weakness, it was on the generous side of frail 
humanity. Untiring energy and ceaseless toil attended 
his steps by day, and unwearying vigils have been his 
companions by night. He stored his mind with large 
learning, he enriched it with culture, and he trained it 
with severe discipline. 



Tributes. 59 

His intellectual character consisted of free and fear- 
less thought, with expression powerful and perfect. Each 
apple of gold was set in its picture of silver. Life is not 
measured by years, but by acts. It is not the rolling 
season, but entries, by the recording angel, of great and 
noble deeds. Measured by this standard, we bear wit- 
ness, by our feeble words, that the life of David J. Lewis, 
though brief, was a full one. The pleasing presence, the 
hearty welcome, the confiding and warm nature of our 
brother, are now gathered in sweet memories about us. 

"Heroic spirit, take thy rest — 

Thou art richer, we are poorer ; 
Yet, because thou hast been with us, 
Ivife is sweeter, heaven surer." 

If any among us was ready, by a spiritual, an inner 
life, hid with Christ in God, he was more. If any among 
us was worthy to be called higher, he was more. It is 
sweet to think of his preparation, his capacity, for the 
full enjoyment of heaven, and his nearness to the Throne ; 
yet to many of us the world will never seem quite the 
same as it did before Heaven claimed David J. Lewis. 
It remains to us to close the ranks a little firmer, bear 
the burden a little braver, and be true to God. 

Grateful for thy love and noble friendship, we would 
reverently ask the privilege of laying this simple memo- 
rial-leaf upon thy tomb, and then of standing somewhere 
near the circle of thy nearest and dearest, waiting and 
watching with them for that time when wounded hearts, 
that bleed and break, are healed forever, and when, 

" In the room 
Of this grief-shadowed present, there shall be 
A present in whose reign no grief shall gnaw 
The heart, and never shall a tender tie 
Be broken." 



60 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

A Tribute. 

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and 
see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, 
if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judg- 
ment, that seeketh the truth." (Jer. v, I.) 

Well may the Church of to-day, with its many empty 
pulpits, its spiritless worship, and its worldly member- 
ship repeat the cry of Jeremiah; but it was hard to believe 
God needed such a man in heaven more than upon earth 
when he took David J. Lewis from the Church militant. 
The little Church over which he was pastor, so peculiarly 
favored, now so sadly stricken, can truly say, Never was 
there one more beloved as a friend, and seldom any 
whose death could cause so many to feel that no other 
friend could ever occupy his room. He was loved and 
revered by many who gave no evidence of love to Christ, 
and those who but "wondered and perished" acknowl- 
edged him to be a man of God — a true disciple of Jesus 
Christ. 

If few congregations are so fed and blessed, is it not 
that few ministers preach with the fervor, the Christ-ex- 
alting simplicity, and the prayerful expectancy of David 
Lewis, and few follow out their preaching with the yet 
more impressive urgency of his gracious intercourse and 
consistent example? It was obvious to all that the tone 
of Christianity was raised as much by his holy walk as 
by his heavenly ministry. He was ever zealous to add 
to his own attainments in holiness, ever ready to learn 
and quick to apply any suggestions that might tend to 
his greater usefulness. Two things he seems never to 
have ceased from; viz., the cultivation of personal holi- 
ness, and the most anxious effort to save souls. It was 



Tributes. 6i 

a frequent prayer, "Lord, if I 'm not all right, make me 
right; if I am right, keep me right. Make me as holy 
as a pardoned sinner can be made;" and in his heart- 
searchings would ask himself the question, If God had no 
better men in the Church than I am, what kind of work 
would be done for the Lord? And, in his heart-to-heart 
exhortations to his people, would say, "Dear brother and 
sister, live as close to the Lord as I mean to try to do; 
be as holy as I mean to try to be." 

The holy consistency of his daily walk, his candor, 
his uprightness, and his generosity were felt by all his 
brethren, and his opinions, though the opinions of so 
young a man, were regarded with more than common 
respect. Aware that one idle word, one needless con- 
tention, one covetous act, may destroy in people the effect 
of many a solemn exhortation and earnest warning, he 
was peculiarly circumspect in every act. Whatever be 
said in the pulpit, men will not so much regard if the 
minister do not say the same in private, with equal ear- 
nestness, in speaking with his people face to face. 

In family visits among his people he ever sought to 
do good to their souls, and in all his conversation, light 
and cheery, on business or politics, Church work or 
theology, science, literature, or art, all were used as a 
preparation of the soil to receive the seeds of truth which 
he hoped at some time to sow. 

His demeanor was easy and pleasant to all, exhibit- 
ing a meekness of faith and a delicacy of feeling. There 
was in his character a high refinement, that came out, in 
the poetry of true politeness, to small and great, old and 
young, rich and poor alike. Many business men have 
remarked that when they would feel unusually depressed, 
and prospects were gloomy to them, to see David Lewis 



62 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

pass the window, with his gracious bow, cheery smile, 
and courteous gesture of the hand, and to hear his hearty 
" Good-morning ," would brighten the entire day, and the 
tide of business seemed turned. 

He looked upon men, not according to their natural 
qualities, their ability, riches, or worldly distinctions, but 
according to their more noble relations, and those com- 
mon to all — as creatures immortal, lively images of God, 
formed to love and praise Him through all eternity; as 
clothed in purple by the blood of Jesus; as brothers and 
co-heirs with him to an inheritance, and therefore ten- 
derly loved by him. He looked upon the image of God 
in every human being, and he loved, not only the Chris- 
tian, but all men without exception. 

It was the chief aim of David J. Lewis to apply and 
unite himself to the Lord Jesus, and from this union and 
example to derive all his virtue, and inspire all his labors 
of love; to mold himself after this Divine model, both in 
his inward tempers and his outward behavior, was his 
constant endeavor. He never took his eyes off this Divine 
copy. Often was he heard to say, "Ever since it became 
an experimental fact to me that Jesus died for me, have 
I tried to conform my life to the principles of the gospel 
and the precepts of the Master.' , Thus he endeavored 
to draw every line in exact harmony with His likeness, 
making Him his perfect original. 

"O Paradise! O Paradise! 
I want to sin no more ; 
I want to be as holy here 
As on thy spotless shore." 

And this intimate union with God, attended with such 
a wonderful peace of mind, shone forth in every lineament 
of his placid face, and begat a kind devotion in his be- 



Tributes. 63 

holders. Strangers seeing him in public, often remarked, 
"I never saw so saintly a face." 

As Emerson says: "Nature will be reported. All 
things are engaged in writing their own history. The 
rolling rock leaves its mark on the mountain-side; the 
river, its channel in the soil ; the fern and leaf, their modest 
epitaph in the coal. So every act of a man's life, and 
every thought of his heart, inscribes itself in the memory 
of his fellows, and in his own manners and face." 

David Lewis could not be other than saintly, for, as 
Kepler of old, "he thought God's thoughts after Him." 

Upon his well-shaped forehead, with its perpendicular 
walls of reason and truth (as Spurzheim puts it), there 
was always an animated expresion, a sunny pleasantness, 
and a generous and glowing feeling kindled his large, 
kind eye, in which lurked many a merry twinkle, that 
came dancing forth at the slightest incentive. There was 
also that reflective air, that thoughtful poise, which spoke 
of patient investigation, profound reflection, and stead- 
fast determination. 

" There was that in his face 

Which cometh not, 
Save when the soul has many 

A battle fought, 
And conquered self 

By constant sacrifice." 

So rapidly did he advance in Scriptural and experi- 
mental acquaintance with Christ, it was like one friend 
learning more of another, and becoming more like him. 
In his case these words had palpable meaning, "Behold- 
ing as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed 
into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit 
of the Lord." 



64 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

For years he had measured his life by the following 
rules, which he had copied in his Bible: 

"To be a holy man, I give myself — 
To make myself of no reputation. 
To do all self-killing jobs presented. 
To never exalt self or work for self-exaltation. 
To never compare myself with others. 
To know no man after the flesh. 
To never favor carnal man for favor. 
To declare the whole counsel of God. 
To let the whole Word of God color my whole life. 
To live and love and labor in the Spirit. 
To do all for Jesus and to Jesus only. 
To do all just as Jesus would do. 

To give my loves, sympathies, preferences, all to Jesus. 
To do all in the name of Jesus. 
For I am purchased to be His own. 

David J. Lewis." 

He had learned to do everything in the name of Jesus. 
"For Jesus' sake" was his motto. A man can not be a 
faithful minister of Christ till he preaches Christ for 
Christ's sake. 

In his ministerial office his earnest appreciation of 
duty to God and man was his peculiar characteristic. 
He lived, not for man's smiles, but for God's favor. In 
all his efforts he recognized the truth of the sacred words, 
"The friendship of the world is enmity to God." He 
seemed emancipated from all human vanity, he experi- 
enced the power of God in his own soul before he de- 
livered it, and when he spoke there was a sinking of the 
individual in the infiniteness of God, and when his clear 
mind and loving heart were poured out for men's guid- 



Tributes. 65 

ance, men listened to him as an oracle of God. He was 
most fruitful in expedients and illustrations to help the 
understanding and the confidence of the seeking soul, and 
his deeply spiritual mind, clear conceptions of truth, and 
great simplicity of soul rendered his efforts most inter- 
esting and efficient; and with great and exceptional afflu- 
ence, with fervid and glowing speech, he seemed to take 
men and lift them up into that ideal kingdom and life of 
the soul in which he himself dwelt, and to which all true 
men aspire, and made them feel and know that they were 
dwellers there with God. Every life to him was great, 
every life full of promise, and the glory and hopefulness 
of life were the burden of his speech. One felt, in listening 
to him, how great, how full of promise, how valuable 
beyond price, was even the poorest life. The little, ob- 
scure corner, how big it seemed to become! the little, 
monotonous path, how bright it seemed to become! and 
all around, as he spoke to us in our dull and plodding 
life, there was a heaven at hand. His message was not 
for some, but for a//, and as, with rapt attention, men list- 
ened to his torrent of speech, they felt that here was a 
man sent of God with a mesasge to all men, which they 
were willing and waiting and glad to hear. His messages 
were high and spiritual, always holding up the loftiest 
conceptions. They were pervaded by a seemingly in- 
spired earnestness, and abounded with illustrations that 
flashed the many-sided truth of Scripture with stereoptic 
suddenness and prismatic beauty. They were punctured 
with wit and satire that gave keener point to the arrow 
of the gospel; reached flights of eloquence at times, and 
drew upon the lore of the receding ages ; but in the midst 
of these features, and above them all, was ever to be 
seen the illuminated Cross of Calvary as the objective 
5 



66 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

point of every line of thought and as the shining Star 
of the lost world's sure and only hope. And admirably 
did he bring to the profound and learned the plain les- 
sons of the wonderful gospel teaching which also helped 
the unlettered. To the young, he was full of mirth and 
buoyancy; to the old and infirm, he was tender as a child; 
to the troubled and sad, he was a man deeply acquainted 
with grief. 

" For heavy is the weight of ill 

In every heart ; 
And comforters are needed much 

Of Christlike touch." 

All men, in all classes and conditions, claimed him, 
because he claimed all men; he entered into their dis- 
appointments and successes, and made them his own. 
This is a rare gift. It is a greater thing to stand close 
to humanity's heart than to stand close to dogma and 
doctrine. He preached, not for the approval of the 
schools, but for the help of the sin-laden and sorrowing. 
He preached, not cold ideas, but a gospel as real as life's 
difficulties, that will enter with the mother into the kitchen 
and nursery, the merchant into the counting-room, the 
mechanic into the shop, the farmer into his field, and 
suited alike to the varied necessities of each. He re- 
vealed to men the possibility of working, out of their own 
plain, daily callings, present power and future glory. His 
brave, strong words cheered many a drooping spirit, and 
roused, to new endeavor, men and women who were 
sinking under the burdens of labor and care and un- 
satisfied desire. 

David J. Lewis felt himself especially a preacher to 
young men, and it was young men, earnest, open-minded, 
loving-hearted, who, perhaps more than any others, 
through him learned to love and reverence the living 



Tributes. 67 

Christ; and how well he understood their condition, their 
exposure, their frailties, their temptations, their lofty as- 
pirations, and their infinite possibilities, and always with 
the sympathy of that warm and brotherly heart that was 
beating and palpitating in his breast! How easily he won 
their confidence ! how completely he commanded their re- 
spect! how nobly he led them always up to wiser and 
better things! and many are to-day telling the "old, old 
story" who first heard it, in its wonder-working power 
and simple beauty, from his consecrated lips. 

Salvation of souls was his object, and this unity of 
purpose gave a continuous earnestness and solemnity 
to his ministry. The solicitude with which he yearned 
over his hearers made him affectionate even beyond his 
natural tenderness. A manly man, vast in intellect, tender 
and gentle of heart as a woman, could not fail to win 
men to the adoration and worship of the God he adored. 
With lifted hand and upturned face, he seemed to be 
speaking before the wounds of the bleeding Christ, and, 
by their efficacy, entreated men to look and live. His 
pleading with sinners seemed something Divine, as in 
weariness almost to fainting, amid paroxysms of coughing 
almost to exhaustion, he seemed to be in the gateway 
of the glory world; in sight of the thorn-pierced brow 
and bleeding side — now glorified — he would again and 
again entreat, urge, and plead that wanderers might re- 
turn before the door was shut, and fearing lest some 
promise had been left out, some incentive not given, he 
would give some other illustration, some incident of re- 
pentance and mercy, some comforting assurance, some 
Scripture promise, that, by some means, some others 
might be induced to make their peace with God. 

His co-workers, often all exhausted and feeling that 
all had been done that could be, that every phase of the 



68 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

gospel had been presented — there was nothing more to 
say — but he had more to say. His feeblest appeal was 
more personal and importunate than the most pointed 
exhortations of vaguer ministers in their most faithful 
moods. His earnestness was not a temporary heat pro- 
duced by the friction of the mind upon a subject, and 
which manifested itself in sparks and brilliancies, but was 
rather a warmth of Divine love implanted in the heart, 
and which did not expend itself on special occasion, but 
continued through the whole year, through his whole 
life. Yes, it lasted 

"As long as life did last, 

And was strong as love is strong." 

He felt that his very best efforts were none too much 
for every occasion of service for Christ, and he never al- 
lowed even a prayer-meeting's duties to overtake him 
without a close study upon some gospel theme, and ear- 
nest pleading for the Holy Spirit for that especial service, 
and while all felt he was a great student, yet the im- 
pression was not so much that he came from his study 
as that he came from his closet. 

His engaging personality, his grace of manner in the 
pulpit, and an eloquence like the tidal flow of the waves; 
his pictorial powers; his weeping gentleness at one time, 
and his judge-like severity and grandeur at another; his 
fervent love, holy life, and glowing appeal, all contributed 
to make him a master in grace. 

But with all this wealth of endowment and the self- 
respecting consciousness which he could not fail to pos- 
sess, there was that marvelous modesty which shrank 
from anything of self-assertion. He never availed himself 
of his fine genius and happy powers of language to pro- 
cure a name for eloquence. His poetic fancy and in- 



Tributes. 69 

stinctive taste, with a steady flow of thought and words, 
kept always something new and fresh before his hearers. 
He was thoroughly honest, desperately in earnest, and 
withal willing to pay the cost of success in the assiduity 
of the all-round preparation of himself for it. He never 
tried to imitate some one else. He was at home in the 
pulpit. There was no pausing for effect, no pulpit man- 
nerism, no unnatural tones, no ministerial "twang," no 
"sanctimonious drawl" or explosive, half-whispered 
cadences of voice. There was none of those unrealities 
of manner, or professional affectation, but as a manly 
man, with urgent business, he spoke in manly style. 

Whatever other theme may become outworn or trite, 
the essential gospel of Christ, with its unattained heights, 
its fathomless depths, and its illimitable expanse, he felt 
could never be out of date. It was to him the one thing 
needful for a restless world, and the right delivery of it 
the most continuously sensational theme, and he made 
it his constant prayer, "That utterance might be given me, 
that I might speak boldly, as I ought to speak." 

His deepest and finest feelings clothed themselves in 
fitting words with scarcely any effort when he was descant- 
ing on the glory and wonders of Divine grace; but he 
seemed to despair of transferring to other minds the 
emotions which were overfilling his own; and after de- 
scribing those excellencies which often made the careless 
wistful, and made disciples marvel, he would leave the 
subject with evident regret that where he saw so much 
he could say so little. He would often remark, with much 
feeling, "O, if I could only put it so people could see it 
and feel it as I do!" 

Confession, as one of the elements of all true prayer, 
was rarely omitted in his public or private devotions, 



70 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

and with a heart-deep and humbling submission that lifted 
him up to the very throne of the Eternal, his vows of 
affection and fidelity were solemnly renewed as occasion 
offered. Then he held such reverential and endearing 
communion with a reconciled God; he pressed so near 
the Throne; he was so lost to everything earthly; so 
express, so urgent, so hopeful were his supplications, 
he seemed to be within the vail, his hands on the mercy- 
seat, and his eyes fixed on things invisible. His prayers 
were made real and strenuous by his rich and satisfy- 
ing thoughts of God. He spoke with such a sense of 
reality. He put into them so much soul and passion, 
faith and love, that they seemed lifted forever above the 
realm of mere petition, and all doubt and misgiving lost 
in the higher wish, not that the particular request should 
be granted, but that the will of God might be known 
and done. With prayerful watchfulness, as the Savior 
enjoins, he diligently kept from his heart and life every- 
thing that was un-Christlike. 

While he detested vice, and fled from sin as from a 
serpent, and was scathing in his denunciations of crime 
and godlessness, he pitied the sinner, and turned to the 
vicious with the warmest emotions of benevolence and 
charity. Considering them as inexpressibly poor, he 
joyfully offered to them the "pearl of great price." His 
highest wish was to convert the wicked from the error 
of his ways, anxious to do the work of an evangelist, 
and not ashamed that every hour and every place should 
bear testimony to the affectionate zeal with which he 
labored. 

He studied to present the religion of Jesus in its 
most alluring form, not "as a vial of wrath," but as a 
"cup of consolation;" not as a galling yoke, but as a 



Tributes. 71 

never-failing support. His most searching sermons, 
which portrayed God's abhorrence of sin and the cer- 
tainty of retribution, were always accompanied with 
much prayer and humility, tenderness, and appeal, in- 
stead of reproach and upbraiding. He uttered a voice 
of solemn warning instead of hardening threats, and 
would often ask, on returning home from such serv- 
ices, "Did I speak with tenderness and in the spirit of 
love?" Yes, it was the voice of Divine love heard amid 
the thunder that pierced the consciences of his hearers. 

He could do and endure all things through 
Christ which strengthened him. Severe against sin, 
but gentle to all besides. 

With singleness of aim and simplicity of confidence, 
he took Heaven's truth for his. Then nothing is too 
great for man to dare or accomplish. He knew the 
truth would make men free, and he sought with all his 
heart to spread it. And truth had the force of a pas- 
sion, which manifested itself in an almost overwrought 
intensity. He showed how far love can go to rescue its 
object when it is enkindled by Him who loved us and 
gave Himself for us. 

Much as his labors were, he deemed them but a 
trivial offering upon the altar of redeeming love, and 
humbly ranked himself below the most unworthy of all 
God's chosen, and always deploring he was not able to 
do more, so humbly praying, — 

"What we lack in our work, 

May'st Thou find in our will; 
And in mercy winnow 
The good from the ill." 

He did not content himself with the fact that he 
was taking an unequal share with others in the work 



72 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

done, or that men were satisfied with his efforts, or even 
that they pointed to him as an example. "Much fruit" 
was his ambition for God. He never sacrificed truth for 
favor, "never abandoned the high-road of right for the 
low-lands of expediency." He was bold and daring, as 
well as generous and genial. He feared no danger, and 
shrank from no toil — a hero, indeed, of the highest 
type; for why should the title be reserved for warriors 
alone? The truth has its heroes as well as the sword, 
and David Lewis was one of them. Indomitable in 
resolution, powerful in speech, enterprising in spirit, not 
to be repressed or easily turned from his purpose, he 
could use as instruments what others might encounter 
as barriers. 

In all his manly decisions he embodied that gener- 
ous nature and unruffled spirit of a man who had learned 
to fear God, and have no other fear. He was a man of 
unwavering faith. Faith, in him, changed fear to cour- 
age, "crooked paths" to king's highways, and "feeble 
efforts" to glorious exploits. To him faith subdued all 
evils, supported and solaced him under all sorrow and 
trial, and made the fullness of Christ all his own. 

As the miser toils to increase his hoards, and as the 
ambitious person studies to advance his reputation in 
the world, with equal earnestness and desire this holy 
man endeavored to promote the salvation of the lost; 
and, while some men were toiling for that which is only 
as the "apples of Sodom," or seeking that safety which 
is found under gourds, David Lewis chose that better 
part, was blessed, and made a blessing, because he 
sought no resting-place here but in a close walk with 
God. 

Hundreds of souls were his reward from the Lord 



Tributes. 73 

ere he left us, and in him have we been taught how much 
one man may do who will only press further into the 
presence of God, and seek more earnestly the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ, and speak more boldly for his God. 
And, while it is owned that the possession of such a 
bright and shining light was the Church's privilege, is 
not the rarity of such the Church's sin? 

When we remember his intense earnestness, which 
nothing but his most extreme efforts could satisfy, his 
untiring endeavors in seeking to save the lost, his dili- 
gence in the employment of his time, his Christlike 
condescension toward all at all times, and his sacred 
familiarity with the Divine Mind, we ever felt ourself 
the happiest of women in the possession of so conse- 
crated and heavenly friend; and the sorrow bears a due 
proportion, which only finds its consolation in a per- 
fect submission. 

From the two inexhaustible mines of human ex- 
perience — out of sorrow and out of love — we could 
draw the treasures of richness and beauty, and heap up 
glowing and merited praise till the pinnacle would reach 
far beyond the limit of ken, into that invisible realm of life 
of the soul, which is now his own ; and we feel obliged by 
the strongest ties to pay this small tribute to one, of whom 
it may be justly said: No nobler spirit ever came into 
the world or went from it. Not a truer heart ever 
beat in human bosom. Not a more beautiful memory 
ever followed the name of a man after death, and it now 
lingers like a sacred benediction. 



VIII. 

MEMORIAL SERMONS. 

Memorial Sermon, 

delivered at east richland, o., by thomas hodgin. 

"I go the way of all the earth." (i Kings ii, 2.) 

HP HE subject before us to-day is one of tenderness; and, 
* while sorrow and weeping and shedding of tears 
have been the scene of many a home from East to West, 
where David's memory will always live, yet we rejoice 
to know that he was ready and prepared to meet the 
pale-faced messenger, who had been stealing away at 
his body these many years. From my first acquaint- 
ance with this noble man of God he seemed more like 
a brother than a friend; and it mattered not how hum- 
ble or how weak the human frame, he always had a 
kind, cheering word for every passerby. His life-work 
seemed to have been of short duration; and, while we 
do not understand why he should be called home right 
in the bloom of manhood, and while being so useful in 
the hands of God in winning many hundreds — yes, and 
perhaps thousands — of precious souls to the fold of 
Jesus Christ, we will not murmur or complain. But 
we know that He who doeth all things well had 
an object in view when He called David from our 
midst. We have often heard him say, "I '11 be true 
to God, and preach the truth, until Jesus says, 
'David, it is enough ; come up higher.' " And, friends, 
dearly beloved, while he was your shepherd, you 

74 



Memorial Sermons. 



75 



know there was no sacrifice too great for him to 
make, or burden too heavy for him to bear; and, 
again, we remember how, in time of battle, when every- 
thing about him seemed to be dark and gloomy, and 
defeat staring him in the face, yet right in the thickest 
of the fight he stood like a hero; and, with a smile on 
his face, he would say, "Glory!" 

He was used of God in leading us out into the min- 
istry. He used to say, "Thomas, live on thy knees, and 
God will make thee a great blessing." One day he 
said to me, "Thomas, a good Quaker preacher will not 
have very much of this world's goods, but will get a 
glorious reward in heaven;" and often he would say, 
"Thee be true to God, and preach the truth." 

For nearly three years I was under his care; but, 
beloved, I never knew how to appreciate his words of 
counsel and courage until now. But, my friends, Da- 
vid's voice is hushed, his counsels are a thing of the 
past; but his memory is as fragrant to me to-day as 
the beautiful rose. 

His last sermon is preached; the last blessed revival 
has been held; the last and great battle is fought, and the 
glorious victory won. Hallelujah! To-day David's dust 
lies near the beautiful shores in California, where he 
awaits the morning of the first resurrection; and when 
Jesus comes for His bride, I expect to be among that 
number, and will meet David in the air. Glory! 



76 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS, 

IN HONOR OF REV. DAVID I,EWIS, DELIVERED SUNDAY, AT THE 
FRIENDS' CHURCH, BY REV. LIDA ROMICK. 

The present pastor, Mrs. Romick, preached from the 
text: "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, 
Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from 
henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest 
from their labors; and their works do follow them." 
(Revelation xiv, 13.) 

At the outset, I ask myself the question, "What is 
meant by dying in the Lord?" and I find this answer: 
"To die in the Lord, one must be in the Lord when 
death finds him;" and "in the Lord" implies: 

1. Saved by faith in Him. 

2. United by faith to Him. 

3. Walking by faith in Him. 

4. Working by faith for Him. 

These are the sure preparations for blessed dying, 
and, tested by these, we are fully assured that our de- 
parted brother, David Lewis, died in the Lord. 

In his young manhood he turned from a life of sin 
and rebellion, and accepted life and salvation through 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and was united to Him as the 
branch is united to the vine — by a living, vital union. 
Of his walk in Christ I need say but little, as most of 
you knew him more intimately than I did. I suppose 
more of his life as a minister of the gospel was spent in 
Tecumseh than in any other one place. 

Henry Ward Beecher has said: "Men carry uncon- 
scious signs of their life about them. Those that come 
from the forge, and those from the lime and mortar, and 



Memorial Sermons. 77 

those from the soil, bear signs of being workmen and of 
their work. One need not ask a merry face, or a sad 
one, whether it hath come forth from joy or grief; tears 
and laughter tell their own story. Should one come 
home with fruit, we say he comes from the orchard; 
if with hands full of wild flowers, he has been in the fields ; 
if one's garments smell of mingled odors, we say he 
has walked in a garden. But how much more, if one 
has seen God, hath held converse with Him through 
the Holy Spirit, and hath walked in heavenly places, 
should he carry in his eye, his words, and his perfumed 
raiment the sacred tokens of Divine intercourse !" 

In your homes, on the streets, in the stores, wherever 
I have heard the name of David Lewis mentioned, it 
has been ever with affectionate tributes to his purity 
of life, his kindness of heart, his consistent Christian 
walk and conversation. "He was a good man," is the 
uniform testimony. Not that mere natural goodness, but 
partaker of the Divine nature, the well of water in him 
ever springing up, and flowing out in streams of bless- 
ing. Like Enoch of old, "he walked with God; and 
he was not, for God took him." 

The blessedness of such a death consists in that — 

I. THEY REST FROM THEIR LABORS. 

Willingness and joy in God's service do not pre- 
vent weariness. The flesh is weak. Those who have 
carried the burden of immortal souls, who. have gone 
forth weeping, bearing precious seed, who have put 
forth every energy of their being in the effort to bring 
lost men to the Savior, alone know the utter weariness 
and prostration that follow such effort. It is a work 
that angels might envy and covet; but, though we love 



78 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

the service, there are times when we long for the Mas- 
ter's ''Well done" and the sweet home-rest. David 
Lewis, when asked in the morning of the day he died 
if he was suffering, replied, "No, but so tired;" and at 
one time told his wife that when he got to heaven he 
felt he would like to rest twenty years, he was so tired. 
Not that he was weary of preaching the blessed gospel 
of life, but the weariness of a poor, sick, worn-out body, 
its last energies spent in the service to which he had 
joyfully given his life, only missing three Sabbaths from 
his pulpit in Long Beach before he went to be with God. 
Truly can it be said of him: 

"Thou hast fallen in thine armor, 
Thou soldier of the Lord, 
With thy last breath crying, ' Onward V 
And thy hand upon the sword." 

His last prayer was that, if his work was done, he 
might go home; and that day he rested from his labors. 
Eternal rest! 

II. THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW TH^M. 

Works of love and charity, words of faith and coun- 
sel, sermons, exhortations, and prayers from hearts full 
of the Divine love, can never die, but will live on and 
multiply themselves in the hearts and lives of men un- 
til the end of the age. A young man who had lived a 
wicked, dissipated life, but was saved upon his death- 
bed, exclaimed with anguish to those about him, "O 
gather up my influence, and bury it with me!" But 
how impossible! If I speak to any to-day who realize 
that your influence is not such as you will want to follow 
you to the bar of God, will you not call a halt now, 
and say, "By the help of God, I will sow no more bad 



Memorial Sermons. 79 

seed in the harvest-field of my life?" If we have been 
brought to Christ, and saved through the instrumental- 
ity of some faithful Christian, let us send the blessing on 
to other hearts, lest it should die out in our own. 

"Have you had a kindness shown? 

Pass it on, pass it on ! 
'T was not given for thee alone, 

Pass it on, pass it on ! 
Let it travel down the years, 
Let it wipe another's tears, 
Till in heaven the deed appears, 

Pass it on, pass it on !" 

III. THEY SHALL HAVE PART IN THE) FIRST RESURRECTION. 

"For if we believe that Jesus died and and rose again, 
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring 
with Him." There are still some who cavil at this glo- 
rious Scripture doctrine of the resurrection of the body, 
and who are ready to ask, "Shall I rise again out of 
the dust, the fire, the sea, and appear in beauty and 
glory?" Reason says, "No." Nature answers, "Yes." 
Ask the spotless Easter lily or the fragrant hyacinth 
what and where they were a short time ago, and they 
will tell you, "We were dry and brown, and apparently 
lifeless, but a few weeks ago; but, buried in the earth 
a little while, and the germ of life implanted in us by 
the Creator burst the brown and homely covering, and 
we became things of beauty and fragrance." Ask the 
butterfly that poises its brilliant wings above the flowers 
of the garden whence it came, and it answers, "I was 
only an ugly worm in a little dry cocoon, but there 
was something in me which was destined for a higher 
life;" and the worm has found its wings, and floats in 
the summer, a lovely type of the resurrection life. Reve- 



80 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

lation says, "Yes, if a man die, he shall live again." 
"So, also, is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown 
in corruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is sown in 
dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it 
is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised 
a spiritual body." The flower is more beautiful than the 
seed. It lives in the atmosphere of light and air and 
beauty, instead of in the dark, damp ground out of 
sight. It has new powers, new fragrance, new loveliness; 
so will be our spiritual bodies, compared to those we 
now possess; for they shall be made like unto Christ's 
most glorious body. 

To the friends of those who die in the Lord is pre- 
cious consolation in the evidence that they are with 
the Lord, and in the hope of seeing them again. How 
we treasure as a priceless legacy those dying utterances 
that breathe assurance of eternal joys, that speak of vic- 
tory over the king of terrors, and give glimpses of the 
dawning glory. Frances E. Willard's dying words will 
never die, "How beautiful to be with God!" David 
Lewis's last expression that could be understood was, 
"The Lord has been very good to me, and I am so 
happy." 

Beloved, if you would meet him again who was your 
pastor and friend, follow him as he followed Christ. 
Perhaps you say, "I can never be such a Christian as 
he was." You may not be called to be a preacher of 
the gospel, as he was, but God has called us all to holy 
lives and to communion with Himself. "It is not the 
want of grace or of the means of grace that so few at- 
tain to that degree of piety where the soul lives in 
constant communion with God, but the want of fixedness 
of purpose and faithfulness in walking in the light." 



Memorial Sermons. 8i 

Upon the tomb of Judge Samuel Hoar, at Concord, 
Mass., the following is inscribed: "And they laid the 
pilgrim in an upper chamber, whose windows looked 
toward the East, and the name of the chamber was 
Peace. There he slept till break of day. Then he awoke 
and sang." Our brother sleeps in the land of sunshine 
and flowers and ocean breezes, far from his kindred and 
friends, but he is numbered with the "blessed dead," 
and in the morning he, too, will awake and sing. 
6 



SERMONS OF DAVID J. LEWIS. 

IX. 

THE GRACE OF OUR LORD. 

"For we know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became 
poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich. ,, 
(2 Cor. viii, 9.) 

HP HE idea of poverty is ever oppressive to the human 
* heart. How instinctively we shrink from the 
thought of pinching poverty can be seen in the life 
and strife of all we meet. But if that poverty be min- 
gled with suffering, it makes the heart sick. And yet 
the One this morning we are pleased to call our Savior 
was the poorest of the poor, the lowest of the lowly. Ah, 
how the world looks upon the one that lives the life 
of what is called a commercial failure! How the world 
of sin and unbelief has tried to pour contempt on the 
fair name of the Son of God! How the cross was a 
stumbling-block to the law-proud Jew, and foolishness 
to the Greek; but, thank God, it is the wisdom and 
power of God to those who love Him, of whom, this 
morning, I am so glad to say I am one. Let this wicked 
world say that Jesus was born of a poor Jewish family, 
in a common feed-stable, and that He lived the life of 
a poor carpenter, and that all His friends forsook Him 
and fled, and finally was nailed to the cross as a male- 

82 



The Grace of Our Lord. 83 

factor. Yet let them say, too, that few of the great and 
wealthy of His day believed He was what He claimed 
to be; and still I will be glad in my heart this very hour 
to say that He is my Savior and only hope; for all this 
but proves His great love for me. Yes, let the case be 
made as bad as speech can declare; still I say that only 
shows how much He loves me. 
For we read that though 

I. HE WAS RICH. 

This has reference to the life of the Son of God in 
the courts of glory. How rich he was, who can tell? 
And yet we have a fair conception of what wealth is. 

Let us go to the country. As we drive along the 
road, our eyes are drawn to contemplate a scene of 
beauty. There stands a house in the shade of a clump of 
trees that, while large, have been planted by the hand 
of man, and are the finest species of shade-trees. Look 
at the orchard that covers the beautiful hill back of the 
house. See those herds feeding in the distant fields. 
The flocks are just across the branch that flows like a 
silver line through the emerald pastures. How every- 
thing seems to be perfection itself! Look at the house, 
surrounded with flowers and shrubs, filled with the 
works of art, in which full and plenty crown its board 
and supply its larder; and we say that is the home of 
wealth, they are rich. 

Let us go to the city. We take a drive up one of 
the shaded avenues, 'mid trees and walks, shrubs and 
flowers, lawns and fountains. We say the rich are here. 
Look at the brown-stone front or marble palace of an 
Astor, Stewart, or a Vanderbilt. We say that is the 
home of the rich. Factories and mills, banks and stores, 
houses and land are told; and we say they are rich. 



84 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

Let us go to Europe, and we stroll into the grounds 
of a prince. There are the marble statues, the lakes rilled 
with fish, the lawn filled with flowers, and the palatial 
house filled with the product of scores of lands. The 
library shelves groan with books, the walls are papered 
with pictures, the floors are carpeted with velvet that 
fairly swamps you, while the chairs and cushioned rest- 
ing-places are upholstered with silk. Look at the deer- 
parks, hunting-courses, driving-tracks. Here are the 
banks and vaults filled with gold hoarded away; and we 
say that is wealth. But let us go to the home of the 
great King Solomon, whose houses are of cedar, whose 
porches are finished in ivory pillars, whose walls are 
covered with gold; and we say that is wealth. Yes, that 
is wealth and riches in truth. But what is all that 
compared with the riches of the Son of God as King of 
glory! Solomon's porches were torn down, his wealth 
taken, and little was missed; but if the world were 
filled with the wealth of heaven, no perceptible impres- 
sion could be made upon it. No bound was placed to 
His domain; no fires ever flamed in His mansions; no 
panics ever wrecked His banks; no disease ever deci- 
mated His armies; no death ever took away His friends; 
no hostile hordes ever usurped authority; no armies ever 
invaded His dominion; no one ever contested His 
power; no want was ever feared; no pain was ever felt, 
and an angel accountant for a million years could not 
tell His resources. Ah! that is wealth — rich! rich! Who 
can comprehend? 

If we have a little home, how secure we feel; if a 
little bank-stock, how independent; if a good position, 
how brave: if a good family, how joyful! Who would 
part with them, if possessed? But the text tells us that 



The Grace of Our Lord. 85 

Jesus, though so rich, became poor; not gave a little, 
not part, but became poor. 

II. H£ became POOR. 

The cry of sorrow went up from this wicked world. 
Abel's blood cried to heaven for help; the lashing floods 
that swept across the world and submerged the race, 
save one family, cried for help; the flaming cities, go- 
ing up in smoke because of their sins, cried for help. 
The cry reached the heart of God and the ears of Christ, 
and He who had offered Himself for the sins of the 
race wended His way to this sin-cursed, Satan-ridden, 
sorrow-burdened, murder-bordered, hell-bent earth, to 
take up His abode as poor. As poor — the Son of God! 
Yes, poor indeed. 

He came, not to the palace of the Caesars, nor the 
mansions of the great. He came, not to the site of Solo- 
mon's temple and porch. He came, not in the ermine 
of the judges, and the purple of the kings. Ah no! He 
came as poor. Were the angels led to the home of com- 
fort and luxury? Was He laid in a cradle of ivory, with 
springs of gold, or where? We find Him in the 
manger of a common feed-stable. O, was ever child 
poorer? We find Him numbered among the poor. 
His mother was a poor Jewish maiden. He lived with 
the poor. Ah! to give up His Father for a place in 
the family of the poorest, and to be born in a manger. 

He lived a Stranger even there. Who knew Him? 
Who sympathized with Him? Who was fellow with 
Him! Ah! that is poor indeed. Who of us could or 
would get on without sympathy? Take sympathy from 
us, and what would we do? Could we stand? Look 
at that poor man with a smile on his face. How 



86 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

happy he looks! What can be the good fortune befallen 
him? Why, he is nearing his home. There he has sym- 
pathy and love. There dear ones are waiting for him. 
Take that sympathy from him — would he smile? would 
he be joyful? O no! The man that has love and sym- 
pathy is not so poor after all. But this is just what 
made the poverty of Jesus so great — no love, no sym- 
pathy — a Stranger even among His own. 

But He gave up a mansion for a highway. Not even 
a home to know, no roof to shelter, no door to protect, 
no one to welcome, a homeless Wanderer. The birds 
had their nests, the foxes had their holes, but this fair 
Stranger is a born Wanderer on the face of the earth. 
No home. Ah, how poor! 

He gave up the companionship of the blessed for 
the publican and sinner. How pure love loves! How 
the company of the good enraptures! How the love 
of heaven must be sweet! But all this He gave for 
the fickle friendships of those in the humblest circum- 
stances. 

Yes, He gave up love for hate. Not only did He 
have the publican and sinner for His companions, but 
He even had the hate of the world for His portion. 
He said, "They hated Me without cause." Instead of 
reading in the face of heaven's hosts the deep love and 
reverence they felt for Him, He saw the scorn of hate 
curl on the lip of sin; He saw the arm of murder in 
the garb of piety; He saw the assassins in the purple 
of the judge. 

But He gave love for hate, life for death, crown for 
a cross. 

But He not only gave love for hate, but a crown of 
glory for a crown of thorns, a throne for a cross, and 



The Grace of Our Lord. 8j 

life for death; while he gave up all heaven for a little 
sepulcher in the earth, peopled glory for a lonely grave. 

O, how poor Christ was hated, hunted, homeless, 
without love, without sympathy, without appreciation; 
away from His Father, His home, His all! O, how 
poor! What grace this was! 

But note, the text says He for our sakes became 
poor, that we should become rich. 

III. THAT WE) SHOULD BECOME. RICH. 

How the world sings the praise of those who have 
defended its interests, developed its resources, and 
helped to make it grow! 

How society appreciates and lauds the man or 
woman who has done for their friends or family some 
marked act of love and effort! How the papers praise 
and tongues voice with loud acclaim the deeds of those 
who save a fellow-being from floods, flames, or famine! 
When at Newport, my attention was directed to a little 
figure — Ida Lewis, who was rowing up the coast in 
her little boat. How our eyes fill with tears when we 
think of Sir H. Davy refusing a million dollars for a 
lamp, and, turning around, gave it away for nothing 
to the poor coal-miners of Wales! How the blood 
rushes through our veins when we hear such stories 
as the woman washing the bootblack's feet, and then 
shoeing them, when he said, "You must be some relation 
to Jesus!" How the lives of Fletcher, Wesley, Whitefield, 
and our Fox, all make us feel glad to claim them as 
our own! But all the while helping their fellows, who 
could appreciate them, and in a measure reward; but 
Jesus became poor for us; for such as we are; for me. 

Ah! that is grace, gracious beyond language to por- 



88 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

tray. Did that for me that I might become rich, that 
I might have what He lost when He came here. Why, 
it seems too good to be true; but that is what the text 
says, that we, through His poverty, might become rich. 

Look at the fallen woman. Surely, He will not give 
His grace to her? Yes, He said, "Go, I condemn thee not." 
Poor Mary, out of whom seven devils were cast, was 
not beneath His purpose to enrich. But there is the 
thief on the cross, not only devil-possessed, but almost 
in the very dominion and domain of the devil. Death 
is fastening his cruel fingers upon his throat. Life will 
soon be out forever. But Jesus came to his rescue, and 
bestowed upon him the riches of His grace, and told 
him that he should be with Him in paradise that day. 
O, what condescending love! Come, ye swift-winged 
seraphs; come and tell this people something of the 
grace of our Lord. Come, ye mighty of earth, that 
have been washed in His blood. Come, ye redeemed 
of glory, and say a word to this perishing people about 
our Lord's grace and goodness. Come, Paul. Thou 
hast told others; come, tell again to-night this people 
how much that grace means. 

Ah! see us going up the shining way. The gate 
flies open. The city looms up. I see my friends. But 
I see my Savior, who was rich, but for my sake became 
poor, that I through His poverty might be rich. 



X. 

GOD'S COVENANT WITH THE GENEROUS. 

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward 
you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, 
may abound to every good work." (2 Cor. ix, 8.) 

T^HE apostle Paul has been commending these Chris- 
A tians for their liberality. Liberality is a great need of 
all Churches in all ages, and is ever an expression of a high 
state of grace. It is a common adage that revivals open 
pocket-books; and as long as sin abounds and evil men 
and deceivers waxing worse and worse, there shall ever 
be a demand for the sort of piety that the Corinthians 
exhibited. 

But the apostle assured them that, while they had 
been and were liberal, they had nothing to fear, as God 
would take knowledge of them; and if they gave to 
Him, He would surely bless them in return, and they 
should never lack anything. And while this promise 
was given to them, God has preserved it for us; and as 
we are all one family, and God the one Father of us 
all, and as He has but one code of law and liberality 
for all His children in every age, and is no respecter 
of persons, this promise is as much ours as any that 
God has written to the believers. So let us proceed to 
note what the promise implies, trusting that we will 
prove ourselves worthy of the same by imitating those 
to whom it was first given. 

Note, however, by way of introduction, that the 
89 



90 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

language is in the absolute degree. All is repeated 
three and in sense four times. And when God says 
"all," He means it. And not only does He mean it, 
which men so often do not — God is able to make it ai,i,. 
So observe : 

i. ali, grace; is granted. 

This is a wonderful promise when we consider what 
it means. Grace or goodness or gift has reference to 
the provisions God has made for His children till the 
end of time. This same apostle says in another place 
that according to His riches in glory, when referring to 
the same thing. O, what must that be! All grace, 
riches in glory! No mind can comprehend it, much less 
shall any life ever exhaust it. We have some idea of 
what God can do for a man. We have seen men very 
much blessed in word and deed. But God do n't say 
that He will make all the grace that others have or 
had abound toward us, but He will make all grace. I 
often sit and wonder what God would do for a people 
that would give him a real good chance. We know 
what He has done for some. We have seen their works 
and felt their influence; but has any one ever exhausted 
all the grace of God or had all He has to bestow? We 
need not look at any man to see how much God can do 
to-day. All grace is the measure. I fear we too often 
shut ourselves up in some little corner of grace, and 
look about us, and say, Well, all this is mine — when, in- 
deed, we are like the little minnow in a small pool upon 
the beach, with the whole ocean stretching out before us. 

Now, this is peculiarly sweet since we often have 
occasion to deplore the sad lack of grace in some lives, 
as we seem to see them. Many of us have said, "Well, 



God's Covenant with the Generous. 



9i 



if I had no more religion than that fellow, I 'd make no 
profession." Well, may be you have not more religion; 
but you may have, though we trust you have more. 
The thought is, that no one can set the limit of what 
grace can do for us if we are faithful. I see people fall- 
ing. I need not fall if all grace is at my command. I 
see others breaking down just where they should be 
strong; we need not, if all grace is at our command. I 
see many, not what they should be, not what they could 
be, not what they would be if they had all God can 
give them; and yet this shall not discourage me, since 
God has promised to make all grace abound toward 
me. And, with this text before me, I can say that if 
any man fails, it is all his own fault; for God has prom- 
ised all grace to abound — and that means all — so that 
the fall is not because God has shut off the stream, but 
because we have failed to connect with it; that is all. 
Was there any necessity for Judas to sell his Master 
for thirty pieces of silver, when the Lord owned the 
cattle on a thousand hills? Was there any need of 
Saul going to the witch of Endor, when the Lord has 
invited all to seek Him for counsel and wisdom? Was 
there any occasion for Solomon taking to himself those 
godless women for wives, when any maiden in Israel 
would be glad enough, and good enough too, to be his 
wife? Was there any need of David acting base and 
mean as he did when he was a king? Was there any 
need of Sampson grinding corn with his eyes out, when 
God had made him more than a match for all his enemies? 
No; all will say no. So don't say, Well, others have 
failed; I must expect to do so too. For all grace is yours. 
Again, this is most precious, because we feel our utter 
dependence. How helpless we are when left to ourselves 



92 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

we have often proved in times of trial and sore need. 
When sickness has assailed us, and we are prostrated on 
the bed, we look around in vain for help for our troubled 
soul. We seek for help and comfort in the things that 
have ever interested us, but in vain. We change our po- 
sition, we seek rest from aches and pains in various ways, 
but we ever feel that after all we can do, or that any one 
can do for us, our case is a desperate one. And the man 
who when well thought little of God and religion, will 
then think, with the emphasis of pain, of his dependence 
on the One he has ever neglected. But even in health 
the natural man will feel a helplessness that no tongue 
can express. Man has always felt so, as can be seen in 
the monuments of an earlier age as well as in the anguish 
of the infidel and atheist in his last moments, when left 
alone with God and eternity. Voltaire, on the Alps, when 
the snowslide drove him to his knees to pray; then, re- 
covering himself, he arose and began to swear. All the 
monuments that have ever been erected to God in the 
misty past; all the shrines and temples of a more modern 
civilization; all the confessions of dying men, and the 
prayers of living, prove how every honest man, when not 
hampered, will cry to God for help. We, too, with all 
our boasted civilization, are as helpless as men in any 
earlier age of the world. We have our printing presses, 
but they can not write our names in the Lamb's book of 
life ; we have our railroads, but they can not carry us into 
the world of spirits; we have our telegraph lines and tele- 
phones, but the longest wire can not reach the Throne; 
we have all the improved appliances of our modern 
methods of life, but they can not insure against death. 
No, friends, with all we have, or shall ever possess, we 
can not do without God; and if we had all the world for 



God's Covenant with the Generous. 93 

our own, we still would be in need of the grace of our 
Lord Jesus as much as though we had not a penny. Then, 
how sweet it is to have the promise that all grace is given 
unto us! Praise the Lord! 

And when we consider that the grace of God does for 
us that very thing that none other can do, nor altogether 
can effect, how our hearts must leap with joy at the 
promise if we only believed it! Now, what we need most 
is not money, though a little is handy; neither is it fame, 
the will-o'-the-wisp of fools; neither is it a thousand things 
after which the Gentiles seek; but it is character, the gift 
of God's grace. I am now expanding the limitation of 
the text somewhat to take in the spiritual as well as tem- 
poral side of God's grace. I do this, for there is really 
no limit to grace — the grace of God. God, in giving us 
grace, the expression of His goodness, can build us 
up in Him till it is as natural for us to be generous and 
liberal as it is for the miser to be kind, and a great deal 
easier. When we show a disposition to be what God 
would have us become, God just comes to our help, and 
makes all grace abound, that we shall find it easy to do 
all we have begun to do. I think this is a part of the 
sense of our text, that not only will God give us the 
means to do good, but the disposition, ever increasing, 
to do good. All grace shall abound toward us in this 
thing. Now, we know the truth of this thought is seen 
in the man that withholds his substance, and becomes 
miserly. See the man who does not give to the cause 
of truth, or the poor, or to anything but his own com- 
fort. At first he has only made the resolution to be sav- 
ing, and to not give when he can well avoid it. Now 
the call comes for money; he is asked to give to some 
good cause that he is impressed with ; others are giving, 



94 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

and he feels as though he should give some little too ; but, 
then, he has said he would try to be saving, and not give 
anything that was not really necessary, and this do n't 
seem to be really necessary for him to give, as others 
are giving, and may be they will get enough without his 
contribution; and yet, as the basket goes past him, he 
feels a real desire in his heart to give, yet he does not; and 
then the next time he has no desire, or less than before, 
and so on, till he has lost all the finer instincts of the 
soul, and has become the merest fossil of what he once 
was, and the merest fraction of what he might have been. 
Just the contrary is the effect that the grace of God has 
on the believer's heart. Not only does he learn to give 
by habit, but God's grace actually makes it natural and 
a pleasure to give to right things. 

Do you now feel it a little hard to give? And yet if 
you give from a sense of right, God will make it easy. Do 
you feel a little doubtful as to the prudence of great 
liberality in giving for God? Look well to the promise, and 
claim it, and God will make the pledge of safety to give 
of your substance for Him. Do you feel, sometimes, as 
though you were giving more than your share, or that 
others were shirking their duty, and their load fell upon 
you? Be assured, God's grace can make this very thing 
a means of grace and blessing. All grace is given, so 
that the disposition to give will be as natural and enjoy- 
able as the contrary has ever been to any or the many 
who hoard their substance. And if a thing is right and 
safe and enjoyable, no one can ask more for the reason- 
ableness of its performance. 

A dear, devoted Christian girl had a brother prepar- 
ing for the ministry. He was smart, gifted, fluent, and 
bid fair to become a bright light for the cause of Christ; 



God's Covenant with the Generous. 



95 



but on his way home from college he met a sudden, sad 
death. The sister, desiring that his work might not die 
with him, took upon herself the education of a Chinese 
lad, and gave him the name of her brother. And though 
earning her own living as a teacher, she regularly and 
systematically took from each month's wages the five 
dollars necessary for the education of the lad. This be- 
came a pleasure to her. She did it for Christ's sake; 
not because she had no other place for her money, 
but because it was for God, and He made it easy and 
pleasant and natural. 

II. AUv EMERGENCIES MET. 

At all times — "always" — having an all-sufficiency. I 
do not know why, but true it is, that men instinctively 
have a fear of the remote and dim future, more than of 
the real and difficult present. I care not what man is 
burdened, or in what way; if you get his real inner thought, 
he will tell you that, somehow, there are times when he 
fears the future will bring more trouble, in spite of the 
natural tendency to hope that is ever in the human breast. 
"Shall I not, at some time, come to know limitation that 
I do not now?" is heard and felt by many. But this text 
assures you that you can take all the joy out of the 
present, and look for its continuance in the future, if 
the Lord is on our side and the Giver of our joy. That 
feared trial is met; that threatening trouble is provided 
for; that probable season of want will have its supply; 
that old age and death will be robbed of their sting. The 
woman who Rev. Cushon spoke of as fearing death and 
the grave, and at last, after a season of prayer, declared 
she had no fear whatever. No, God is eternal, and we 
can not drift or live beyond His love and care. Glory! 



96 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

All temporal need supplied. The apostle assured the 
Philippians "that his God would supply all their need ac- 
cording to His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus." All their 
need, and here we are to have an all-sufficiency, mean- 
ing the same thing. Now that God is able, no one doubts ; 
but He will so do, the apostle declares. There are some 
things that God knows we need, and can not get on 
without; food and raimant and a home, these things God 
will surely provide if we do the right thing. Now the 
right thing, in the mind of the writer, is to live for God, 
and use this world as a stepping-stone to the next in 
spending and being spent for the glory of God. The 
blessed Savior said if we sought first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness, all these things shall be added 
unto us. Does God mean it? Of course. Then, what 
do we fret and worry our righteous souls about? But 
some will say, Then we need not do anything, and can 
sit down and take it easy. Does the Scripture say so? 
No; the Word is, if we sow liberally, that is the guarantee. 
God nowhere fosters fanaticism, but has hinged all His 
blessings upon a consistent foundation or pivot of obe- 
dience. But God will care for His own, and the psalmist 
says he "never saw the righteous forsaken, nor his seed 
begging bread." Nor will any one else ever see them. 
Praise God! Now, then, do n't let us be over-anxious to 
get dollars or land, but to see that we are glorifying God 
in all the ways open to us, and we have nothing to fear. 

Now some will say, "Well, I do not see the believer 
getting rich." No, thank God, it does not say we all 
shall be bankers. Nor does it say that we shall have all 
that some other fellow has, that he might think is the 
thing to have. Some people have silk hats. I do n't want 
them. They never were fit for man to wear. They are 



God's Covenant with the Generous. gy 

too heavy, and can't stand any rain or roughing, so I 
do not want one. So of a few diamonds and gold, or a 
thousand other things that some people have. If God 
had said we might have all some one else had, or all 
we might want, we would rob heaven of its golden 
streets, strip the angels of their wings to put them on 
our bonnets, and run away with all the golden harps of 
the kingdom. Why, some people would not be satis- 
fied if they had all the world for a farm, and the moon 
for a sheep pasture. Yet, on the other hand, God is 
willing for us to have nice things that we will use to his 
glory. I know a woman who prayed God to send her a 
canary bird. She was sick, and, no doubt, thought the 
bird would be a blessing to her. At all events, a day or 
two after she had asked God for the bird, a friend came 
with a nice cage and a pretty little singer in it. God 
does not mean that we shall not have a piece of carpet 
on our floors, nor a picture on our walls, nor a few spare 
things of art about the house. These things may have 
a wonderful elevating influence on our minds and hearts, 
and all who come and enjoy will feel the refining, edu- 
cating influence of these things of art and comfort. A 
woman, who was such a notably wicked woman, of des- 
perate and dissipating habits, was reformed by the gift 
of a single picture for the wall of her bedroom. But 
one thing is ever manifest with the things that God allows 
and gives for our comfort or elevation, we are never vain 
of them. We do n't hoard them as though they had some 
intrinsic value, but we use them as a means to an end — 
that is, to make us better men and women. Nor will we 
begrudge others having and enjoying the same things, nor 
things of the same kind. Rather will we wish all men 
to have them and enjoy as we do. 
7 



98 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

Now if we please God, and He cares for us, no one 
will question His ability to do for all, all the text has 
promised. And the number of those who have found God 
good as His word are not few if we only knew them. 
How many, in answer to prayer, have had their wants 
supplied for years when they were not able to do for 
themselves! The old couple w T ho had been stricken with 
sickness, and had nothing left but an apple, asked God 
for what they needed till they were able to get to work 
again. And a woman sent her daughter with a basket 
of eatables and a skirt for the old mother. When the 
lady had taken the eatables out of the basket, forgetting 
the skirt, she started to go, and the old lady, so sure 
God had heard all her prayer, in childlike confidence 
asked, "And where 's the skirt?" for she 'd been asking 
God for that too. A poor Scotch woman had prayed all 
night for something to keep the bairns from starving, 
and near daybreak the promise of cattle on a thousand 
hills came to her; then, a little later, a steer with a broken 
leg fell at the door, and the driver asked permission to 
leave it. So she had meat and to sell for other necessities. 

But after all we have said about the Lord's provisions 
for the body, the greatest wants are still unsupplied. The 
things of the body will so soon be left in the dim past, 
but the things of the soul will be a consideration for- 
ever. We shall outgrow our present homes as we have 
our childhood's clothes, toys, and plays; but the things 
that furnish the soul — faith, hope, and love — will be the 
garment of the spirit when the sun is old and cold. And 
how much we need them, and how varied they are when 
we take the time to look into the various things that the 
grace of God means of soul-traits and habits! 

How much we need the baptism of love for the un- 



God's Covenant with the Generous. 99 

lovable, who never dream of the burden of weight they 
lay upon our hearts ! Now, unless we love, we are noth- 
ing, if we had all the world to possess; and unless God 
can give us love, it matters but little how much worldly 
prosperity He may give us. The apostle said if we pos- 
sessed all, and gave all we possessed, unless we had love, 
we are nothing. So this is the greatest need possible. 
Now that God can give us love, and take all the vinegar 
and venom out of hearts, is assured from His Word. 
The apostle says, "The love of God is shed abroad in 
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." 
So that while many have to acknowledge a natural lack 
of this prime requisite of the holy life, we never need 
know a lack, for God has promised an all-sufficiency. 
A woman went to the foreign field, and found so many 
squalid, uncomely children, that were not only dirty, but 
repulsive in their habits and tempers, and so unlike the 
children of her childhood, that she confessed she could 
not love them. She thought of giving up her work as 
a missionary, and coming home. But thinking how it 
tf would sound to tell the reason of her change of mind, 
and thinking of, may be, not pleasing her Savior, she 
thought she would pray over it. She found a quiet place, 
and there, alone with her God, she told all her heart 
out to the Great Father of all, and somehow, while she 
prayed, a love for those poor, little, neglected children 
came into her heart, and she felt as though she could 
have hugged and kissed the ugliest and dirtiest of them. 
Now that we shall need love for some that we meet 
along the ways of life, no one will ever doubt. How un- 
lovable we all are in the eye of an angel I can not tell, 
but I am sure we look to them very much as the vicious 
and vile must look to the eyes of the good. But yet they 



i oo Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

have to minister to us, and they surely love, for if they 
did not, they could not please God. So if we are going 
to please God and serve those about us, we must love 
them. It is not natural to love the ungrateful and the 
unthankful; but God is able, for He loved us when we 
were all this and more. It is not natural to love those 
who lie about us, and try to injure our character or de- 
stroy our comfort; but God has said He will give an all- 
sufficiency, and there will never be an individual against 
whom we need have the least hard feeling. Praise God! 
O, how many try to explain away that text that we are 
to love our enemies, by saying, "It do n't mean just to 
love them." Yes, it does. Love is love, and you can 
not have any hatred in love. And God is able to give 
us a baptism of love that will go clear through us, and 
make us love even as He loves. O, what a gift is this! 
How much more to be desired than all the world be- 
sides! How sad is the unlovableness of those who hold 
hatred in their hearts ! I can imagine how those that have 
not the love of God in their souls, that have never known 
the power of the love that loves all and ever, will look 
as they enter the eternal world of love where all is love, 
and stand before a loving God who loved them more than 
they ever knew; and before all the angels and the re- 
deemed, they stand ugly and disfigured by the absence 
of love. A thousand worlds like this would they give 
to be like those about them, who have the life of love. 
This is the greatest need of the soul. Yet this is assured 
us in this promise, for it is one of the things we can not 
get on without and be all God would have us. How 
sweet was the character of Stephen, who, when stoned, 
could ask God for the pardon of his murderers! How 
sweet the love of Christ, who, when dying on the cross, 



God's Covenant with the Generous. ioi 

prayed for the cruel persecutors or the poor fellow that 
drove the nails in his hands and feet ! That is love worth 
more than all the world besides. Have you it? You 
may have. Glory! 

The baptism of power and service we may have. All- 
sufficiency takes in all that we need to make us powers 
in God's hand for good. 

Then a baptism of prayer, that makes prayer not only 
a delight, but a mighty power for good in the hands of 
those who know how to wield it as an intrument of 
Christian warfare. The apostle tells us that "we know 
not what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit helpeth 
our infirmities." Now this is just as real as love or 
power. How much has been accomplished by prayer 
we shall never know in this world, but that it is a mighty 
power the whole Word of God assures us. By it, Moses 
prevailed for the defeat of the Amalekites in the valley 
below; by it, Miriam was healed of leprosy for railing at 
the priests of God; by it, Elijah overthrew the worship 
of Baal, and put the priests to the sword; by it, Daniel 
prevailed with His God while a captive in Babylon; by 
it, Peter was liberated from prison; and if I should take 
time to mention all the answers to prayer that have been 
given to the children of God in the Bible record, we 
should be able to say nothing more. But what a power 
prayer is in the hands of a holy man or woman! If a 
man had nothing in this world, and was as destitute as 
Job after he was afflicted, yet would he be rich, for it was 
in an answer to prayer that Job got the deliverance and 
had twice as much given him as before. No one is poor 
who knows how to pray well. No one can be useless 
who uses this means of doing good. No one can be what 
God wants them to be unless they know something about 



102 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

this wondrous gift. And I am so glad that the apostle, 
this same apostle, assures us that it is the Spirit that 
teaches us how to pray, and as we may have the Spirit 
as the natural part of the all-sufficiency — Glory ! — we may 
know the power of a baptism of prayer. 

Now if there is anything else that I have not mentioned 
that you desire in the way of spiritual furnishings, re- 
member that God will not supply all your need accord- 
ing to the sermon of the pastor, but according to 
His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Not as some 
one else has been supplied, for many walk when they can. 
ride; many just lunch, when they have all meals paid, 
as the man on boat. 

Note, in the third place: 

III. ALI, EFFORT SUSTAINED. 

All financial efficiency guaranteed, if we want it for 
God and His glory. Not that He calls every one to be 
the custodian of great sums of money for the advance- 
ment of the kingdom; but that all the work, be it small 
or great, that He lays upon our hearts, He has prom- 
ised to supply all needed amounts. The lives and labors 
of Cullis-Muller, and many others, as the Alliance Move- 
ment, that have handled millions of money, and seemed 
to raise money the easiest possible. Experience at Beulah 
Park, Old Orchard, and New York all show this. Do n't 
hoard your money to give sometime to come, but give, 
and the Lord will give more when it is needed. If for 
Him, that is the only condition that must be met, and 
God will surely supply. 

All grace granted to the soul in the work to which 
we are called. Now in viewing the lives of the disciples 
before they were baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire, 



God's Covenant with the Generous. 103 

how imperfect their character was ! They seemed, indeed, 
to be incompetent for any severe trial of faith or courage. 
They were easily browbeaten and discouraged, and had 
but little purpose for so great an undertaking. But when 
the Holy Ghost and fire fell upon them, what marvelous 
power they everywhere manifested! They were called to 
preach, and with what marked unction they did it! They 
were called to instruct, and with what a grasp of Scrip- 
ture they told the story of the Christ! They were called 
to suffer and endure hardness, and nothing in this world 
seemed for one minute to daunt or intimidate them. They 
seemed to have all they needed of all sort of power for 
every emergency, and not one, at any time after the Pente- 
costal baptism, manifested the lack of the grace of God 
in any manner of experience whatever. The apostles, 
whether we consider the transformed heart of Paul, from 
the persecutor to the affectionate, suffering apostle to the 
Gentiles; or the transformed life of the Apostle Peter, 
from the impulsive, profane roughness he so often mani- 
fested, to that of one who could endure all for Christ 
without a word; or that of the loving John, who, as 
gentle as a woman, could endure the tortures heaped 
upon him, finally terminating in a banishment to the island 
home to dig in the mines; or indeed any one of the school 
of apostles, we are called to marvel at the great trans- 
formation that marks their every word and deed. They 
are indeed new creatures. Now this is the all-sufficiency 
of the grace of God that is offered to each and all of us 
for any and all the work we may be called to do for Him 
our holy Head. 

But this is what we might expect if we consider the 
Old Testament saints. Look at Moses. He thought he 
could not speak. God told him he could, and He would 



104 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

be to him tongue and utterance. Moses doubted, but 
went with Aaron, only to find, however, that he could 
talk himself, when he had occasion, full as well as his 
more eloquent brother. Joshua had courage imparted 
to him, for he naturally had but little, else God would 
not so often exhort him to be courageous. But when 
he needed it, God supplied, and he stands to-day as one 
of the most illustrious. David had the heart of a woman 
for love, but, under the guiding hand of God, the heart 
of a giant for war and conquest. God gave Solomon 
wisdom, so that he was the greatest of men that have 
ever lived or written on the common duties of life. He 
gave Sampson strength, so that, had he been wise, too, 
he might have lived as one of the most illustrious char- 
acters in the whole realm of Holy Writ. Yes, if we 
could see, to-day, the marvelous changes that have taken 
place in the hearts and lives and circumstances of the 
servants of God, who, like Dowie or Kenworthy, could 
not at first speak without stammering, or as Muller and 
poor Cullis, were poor, and had no money to give, and 
after gave their millions; or like many others that felt 
they had no fitness for any particular work, have be- 
come renowned for efficiency, we would say God surely 
will and does supply all needed grace, that we have an 
all-sufficiency at all times, and may abound to every good 
work. 



XI. 

GOD'S WAY OF ETERNAL LIFE. 

"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast 
sent." (John xvii, 3.) 

C TERNAL life has been the dream and longings of the 
*-^ ages. Elixir of life, fountain of life, and philosopher's 
stone, all myths blown away by the sure fact of eternal 
life in Christ and God. Knowing God is the sesame, 
talisman, and cabala of the ancients, all in one, who would 
not know God and Christ? 

Now in comparison with endless life, not endless ex- 
istence, what can be compared? And if there is a science 
that teaches us how we might become eternal in the 
full life of God, surely we shall bend every effort to get 
possession of it. 

A knowledge of God in Christ Jesus is of itself a 
pledge and guarantee of all that eternal life means in 
the language of the Scriptures. Note, then, 

I. THE MODE OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. 

A knowledge of books, things, or persons has each 
a law to itself. How we know books — things — persons. 
Now, as God is a personality, the last method is to be 
observed. 

We know men, or persons, by association and sym- 
pathy. We do not know men when we can tell the color 
of their eyes, height, weight, etc.; but character is the 

105 



io6 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

man, the being; and to know character, we must com- 
mingle and have sympathy. See as they see, and from 
their standpoint. To know and interpret distant beings, 
we must have a medium of communication. The letter, 
wire, servant, carrier (dove), etc., all adown the ages 
show. Now God has employed two of these ways — the 
messenger and the dove. To know superiors, we must 
allow them to state ways of intercourse. Let them set 
the means; we must comply with their ways. God has 
said that by humility and purity all men shall know the 
truth, and know Him who is the Truth. An author will 
write a book, and we know him by it; a painter will 
paint a picture, and we know him by it, etc. So God 
has revealed Himself in His Son; so Phillip said, "Show 
us the Father, and it sufficeth us." So when we see the 
power of Christ, we see the earthly manifestation of 
God, not all His power. Who could behold all of wis- 
dom, gentleness, love, and purpose to save and elevate 
men? God is seen and known in Christ; associate with 
Christ, sympathize with Him, and you shall see God. 

II. TH£ REJAUTY OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. 

Some do n't know God. Pharaoh asked, "Who is 
the Lord?" So did the pleasure-seekers in Job's day; 
while the fool says, "There is no God." But while fools 
and others so say, men of God, as Wesley, Luther, Ed- 
wards, Finney, and millions more of earth's best, say 
they know Him. They say they do, and who can ques- 
tion? Their word is good on all else; why not here? 
especially when only questioned by those who do not 
know. All knowledge comes by a sense — one sense. 
Color, weight, flavor, sound, odors, all call one sense into 
use. Each sufficient knowledge is known by a sense. 



God's Way of Eternal Life. 107 

Consciousness witnesses to it in knowing God as in 
other things. How do we know a thing is heavy? We 
are persuaded by consciousness of it. Transformations 
by knowledge make it sure, and real. How knowledge 
changes tastes, tempers, impressions, thoughts of things! 
Now the man knowing God feels, sees, thinks, loves as 
never before. Any one can illustrate this in a revival. 
If any one says he knows God, and experiences no change 
in taste, tempers, and purposes, it would be as a man 
saying he knows history, and yet having no different view 
of things from other men who do not know, or a man 
saying he is an artist, and yet see no more than others 
of nature. Inspiration is ever a mark of knowledge. 
The man who knows farming, books, or anything else, 
is more inspired on that point than men who do not. 
The reality of a knowledge of God is seen in the inner 
uplift of soul that comes to the heart of the one that has 
gained this priceless culture. Nearly all knowledge in- 
spires with a motive, purpose, or disposition to do that 
which is peculiar to itself. And though it may be deep 
hidden in its early existence, nothing is more real to a 
soul than this knowledge and its inspiration. Howe and 
Barrow were made new men by this knowledge, and so 
are all who acquire it. 

III. THE EXPRESSION OE THIS KNOWLEDGE. 

Knowledge ever shows itself in the enlarged world 
of the possessor. So a knowledge of God manifests 
itself in ways that can not be misinterpreted. And while 
I would ask for the knowldge of God more than could 
be asked for any other sort of lore, yet I am content, for 
the greater part, to go along the lines of manifestation 
seen in other branches of knowledge. 



108 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

So note: It entrances. All knowledge has a sort of 
entrancing power to the one who possess it. Let a 
man know something about farming, and every land- 
scape to him has a lesson of agriculture; let him know 
something of war, and he will be marshaling forces in 
every field, on every hillside; if he is a geologist, every 
stone tells him of changes of ages agone; if an astron- 
omer, he sees in the heavens the work of the Mighty One 
planned and ordered ; if a naturalist, every bug and insect 
has a study for him ; so the man of God, that knows God, 
sees in all around the deep lessons of God. He sees the 
hand of God in history, in providence, in all the changes 
of earth, and while others might be confused and stunned, 
he is lost in wonder, love, and praise. Everything tells 
him something about God and His power and goodness. 
He lives in another world; he is charmed by a spell that 
binds him to the God of love; he wants to communicate 
his knowledge. Men of idea and knowledge wish to 
impart, if they are normal men; hence the paintings, 
books, and statuary of the world. Men that think, and 
have well-founded knowledge, wish to announce it. So 
the man of God, that has a knowledge of God, will be 
ever speaking of it. You call the man of an idea a one- 
sided man because he is ever talking on one side; but the 
only reason for him being one-sided is, that the other 
fellow has no side to show. He is full of enthusiasm, he 
will tell you of it when he has a hearing; and the man 
that knows God, and will not speak of it when he has a 
good chance, is a man that does not know God at all. 
Men of a theme will speak of it; they are more possessed 
than possessing. Expansion is another phase of the life 
of knowledge. The larger life is a life of information. 
The man of an idea, or a truth, seems to live in another 



God's Way of Eternal Life. 109 

world from ordinary men. The historian lives in the 
past, and seems, to others, strangely lost; the scientist 
lives in the world about him, above, beneath, and all 
around him, and is lost to much that is before the eyes 
of the less schooled. He has a larger world, in a sense, 
than the man who knows less; he seems to live in the 
unseen. Just this is true of the man of God who knows 
God. He lives in the vast, unbounded eternity; he medi- 
tates upon God and the future; he has a controlling faith 
that makes him seem strange to men of earthly sense 
only. Men of faith are ever strange. Look at C. W. 
Field, Morse, Franklin, Astor; so of the man of God, he 
lives in the future, unseen. He lays up treasure in heaven, 
and associates with the redeemed in two worlds. Glory! 
Columbus lived on the unseen shore while yet in the Old 
World. And so do we who know God. We live in the 
unseen, though we walk among men here. Just one thing 
remains to be said on this head to complete my thoughts, 
and that is, the assimilation of the man to his knowledge, 
especially if it is an author. Heroes often change the 
character of the admirer for the worse, always for better 
or worse. This is the harm of the bad novel, and good 
of the good book, or better, of the knowledge of God. 
Michael Angelo studied the great works of art up to his 
day, and became the world's greatest artist. Webster 
studied and memorized the orations of Demosthenes, and 
became, like him, the Demosthenes of this country. 
Napoleon studied the life and battles of Caesar, and be- 
came a conqueror. Caesar studied the life of Alexander, 
and became a great general and conqueror, while Alex- 
ander studied the lives of the generals that lived before 
him, and became the man of blood he was. Know a man 
well that you admire, and you will be like him, is the 



no Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

lesson of the past. So it is with God if we know Him, 
and as we must love Him before we can know Him, we 
must sympathize with Him before He can be known; 
then we begin to assimilate His character. If we say 
we know Him, and do not keep His commandments, 
we lie. (i John ii, 3; Titus i, 16.) It is the most natural 
thing in the world for us to imitate the man or the being 
nearest and greatest in our eyes and hearts. So if we 
do not get gentle, kind, loving, self-forgetful, like God, in 
our lives, we do not as yet know the great God, and be- 
cause of this lack, we lack the eternal life of which re- 
semblance to God is but the badge. 

Much of the knowledge of this world is not very 
valuable; much of the knowledge of this world is be- 
yond our reach of time; and much of the knowledge of 
this world only puffs up and makes vain; but the knowl- 
edge of God, ever at hand, ever grand and glorious, 
always prepares us for the presence of God by preparing 
in us a life and fitness for the spirit-world, where we may 
ever be with Him, 



XII. 

SOME ITEMS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 

"And it came to pass when the priests were come out 
of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the 
Lord, so that the priests could not minister because of 
the cloud; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house 
of the Lord." (i Kings viii, 10, II.) 

'"FHESE words are from the account of the dedication 
* service of the first temple. And while so many cen- 
turies have gone since it took place, we have to do with 
the same God, and very much in the same way as they 
did. 

That there is a preparation in worship seems to be 
completely overlooked by some well-meaning people. 
How many rush into the presence of God, and clamor 
for the things they seem to think they need, and never 
so much as take time to examine their motives, much 
less their fitness to receive, and the grounds on which 
they ask the Almighty to interpose on their behalf! These 
people never think how long it took the Lord of life 
and glory to prepare a worship for them. If they 
could look back into the dim past, when the world 
and worship were young, and see how carefully the 
great God was educating their forefathers to accept His 
love and goodness in the spiritual worship of the gospel, 
they would, I am inclined to think, blush to see, by con- 
trast, how little thought they had bestowed upon the 
most important and solemn of all life's duties. 

in 



ii2 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

How the Lord, in all the types and shadows, symbols 
and ceremonies, of the Old Testament, was preparing the 
world for the real things of the gospel of His son! 
Everything in the Old Testament was significant, as a 
type, when we get to see it in the line of preparation. 
This is why typical teaching is of importance, and very 
fascinating to some teachers. But back of all we see is 
the great, unseen world ; back of all we know as a prepa- 
ration is what went on in the courts of high heaven in 
the way of planning our redemption; and I think, if we 
could but see the great care, the protracted time, the 
infinite wisdom, and, withal, the boundless love that have 
brought salvation to us, we would be very slow to turn 
from the mercy-seat without a special answer to our 
prayers, or to feel that we can not get as near God as 
others do; for if we but manifested the care to be ready 
to converse with the King of the heavens that most 
men manifest to converse with the monarchs of earth, 
how different would be the religious experience of the 
followers of Christ to-day! 

So let us note : 

I. PREPARATION FOR SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 

Reverence born of faith. In the Hebrews we read 
that without faith it is impossible to please God; "for he 
that cometh to Him must believe that He is, and that He 
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Now 
if all believers in coming to the Lord would think, be- 
fore praying, that they were talking to the King of high 
heaven, and that He to whom they spoke knew them 
better than they themselves did, and that He knew all 
of their motives, and had a right to expect reverence 
and respect when He was approached, what a different 



Some Items of Spiritual Worship. 113 

tone our prayers would sometimes possess, and how many 
prayers would we then hear that now remain unspoken 
in the heart, perhaps even unnoticed! Men, in coming 
into the presence of the renowned of earth, and some- 
times renowned for nothing very good either, they plan 
an approach, and are very precise about all that they 
offer before the one they wish to conciliate. Did you 
ever hear any one pray at another in a prayer-meeting? 
I have heard people fly into a passion on their knees, 
and pray at the one present that had incurred their dis- 
pleasure, as though they wanted the Almighty to vent 
His displeasure on those very ones at that very moment. 
There is such a thing as praying at some one; do you 
know it? You can pray for those who sin, those who 
do not live right, those who hinder the cause of Christ, 
with a pure motive; but to take your own personal 
grievances into the prayer service, and address the Lord 
about some one that has done you a wrong, as though 
the Allwise did not know all about it, and to ask ven- 
geance on others, instead of yourselves, is sufficient proof 
that the petitioner does not believe in the great God or 
reverence Him. 

Again, the psalmist says, "If I regard iniquity in my 
heart, the Lord will not hear me." (Psalm lxvi, 18.) 
In coming to God to worship Him with the heart, we, 
of course, must come with a clean heart, or willing to 
have it made clean. How carefully did the greatest of 
kings prepare a temple for the worship of Jehovah in 
Old Testament times! And yet, after he got all finished, 
in honesty he had to say that the Lord dwelt not in 
temples made with hands, for even the heaven of heavens 
could not contain him. But, dear ones, how careless 
are we sometimes to prepare our hearts, the real temple 
8 



ii4 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

of the Holy Ghost, in which the Lord surely dwells! 
But the preparation the individual heart needs, each in- 
dividual and the Lord alone know. Suppose a man 
would come to God, and ask for the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost, ask to be filled with the Spirit, and his heart al- 
ready filled with anger, lust, covetousness, or some other 
secret sin, how long would he pray before the Lord 
could answer his petition? If he would pray till the 
day of eternal doom, the Almighty would not, could not, 
hear and answer him. Even God can not make two things 
occupy the same space at the same time. The Almighty 
can't make the sun to shine and keep the world dark at 
the same time. These are physical impossibilities. So 
the filling of a man's heart with the Holy Ghost when 
it is already full of sin is a moral impossibility. If we 
would be consistent, we should either quit praying or 
quit sinning. This sinning may assume a thousand and 
one phases. In Matthew vi, 23, it speaks of differences 
between members of the body of believers to be put 
away, etc. 

But the greatest preparation that we all need, to be 
spiritual worshipers, is the Lord Himself. God is not 
worshiped with men's heads, pockets, possessions, elo- 
quence, or learning, though we sometimes say we will 
worship God by giving of our substance. Really, all 
worship, all true worship, is born and begotten by the 
Lord in our hearts by the Spirit. So that, in preparing 
the temple for the Lord, we are to seek the Lord with 
all our hearts, since it is the Spirit alone that can make 
a true worshiper. This, then, is part of the preparation 
we all need to worship God aright. If the prayers that 
are now offered up for minor things, and things purely 
incidental, were offered for the baptism of the Holy 



Some Items of Spiritual Worship. 115 

Ghost, how much more we would realize the Lord's ideal 
for us as His children! 

Have you not heard, have we not often prayed, "Lord, 
take away this man-pleasing spirit; Lord, take away this 
man-fearing spirit; Lord, give me boldness in Thy service; 
Lord, give me more faith ; Lord, help me to do Thy will," 
and so on, ad infinitum? When, if we would go to God, 
and ask for the Holy Ghost that Christ promises to all 
believers, we would have love, hope, and faith, and on 
down to the last thing we need to make us all God would 
ask us to be in order to serve and worship Him. For, 
observe, the Lord does not ask any one to bring their 
brains merely, body, booty, bounty, or any other thing, 
but to come to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Over 
and over, again and again, our blessed Savior exhorted 
His disciples to tarry for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 
He promised that He would send the promise of the 
Father upon them. He said it was expedient for Him 
to leave, that the Holy Ghost might come; He said the 
Holy Ghost, who is the Comforter, would do many things 
for the believer, and O, how little attention do we pay 
to the words so fitting to us to-day! 

And finally, as an item of preparation, we must aim 
to please the Lord. What other could the Jew have as 
a motive than the purpose to do the things that would 
best please the Lord, the great Sovereign of their nation? 
If they pleased the Lord, all things were promised them. 
If they would not please the Lord, nothing was promised 
them but a certain looking forward to judgment and 
dread adversity. So with the believer of to-day. We 
worship God, not so much for what it will bring us in 
some form of wealth or honor, but we worship Him be- 
cause it is the only way to do our duty as His children. 



n6 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

Not that the sole aim of the Almighty is that we comply 
with some sort of Divine whim or sentiment that has 
for its existence no other end than to cross the inclina- 
tion, though we need crossing; but the will of God is the 
highest wisdom, and to please Him means the well- 
being of all His creatures. 

Religion, in this sense, is something more than an 
observance or form. Not like the colored man's view 
of religion, of whom Booker T. Washington, the colored 
educator, spoke, who went to class, and said, "Well, 
dear pastor, I have had an up-and-down experience since 
I was de last time at this place. I s'pose I done broke 
all the comandments, ebery one ob dem, N and yet, thank 
God, I 'se not losed my religion any ob de time!" Now 
he, no doubt, thought that as long as he professed, he 
was all right; he had still his religion. But when we have 
the only motive that can be right, and aim to please God 
in all things, we shall be right in all that pertains to time 
and eternity — the things that now are, and those that 
are to come. 

The motive, with the Lord, is so much. And to see 
that our motives are pure, to see that all we do and are, 
yea, all we have and hope to be or to hold, is prompted 
by the love of God and our neighbor, which is the sum 
of all comandments, we shall then be in a place where 
the old Jews were when they had built and dedicated 
the temple in accordance with the will of an infinite God, 
who was doing the very best thing for them and their 
posterity. This is our preparation for the worship of 
the blessed Lord of life and glory. Reverence, purity, 
spirit, and a right motive, are our part of worship. 

Now this throws some light on some great char- 



Some Items of Spiritual Worship. 



117 



acters we have seen shining out, in the world's moral 
darkness, like meteors in the night. We look, some- 
times, at a man as though he had possessed all the strik- 
ing qualities we see him hold, that make him a man of 
might and influence, perfectly natural, without effort or 
culture. But this is a sad mistake. Some one has said 
genius is merely a capacity to toil; that what we call 
brain is nothing more than brawn; or, instead of mind, 
we should call it muscle developed. We see a man that 
has performed some great task, and we say, What a 
smart man! You might have said, What a hard worker! 
When Thiers, the great Frenchman, delivered one of 
his memorable speeches, he was complimented, by an 
auditor, as having performed almost a miracle in deliver- 
ing, off-hand, a speech containing so much thought in 
such an eloquent manner. The Frenchman said, "That, 
sir, is no compliment; I have studied fifty years to de- 
liver that speech." Just so with men who had been 
noted for their spiritual power and efficiency; they have 
worked, on their knees, may be over their Bibles, long 
into the night, while others slept. The poet puts it: 
" The heights by great men reached and kept 

Were not attained by sudden flight; 
For they, while their companions slept, 

Were toiling upward in the night." 

Overcome self, and prepare the heart. 

A Wesley, a Luther, a Fox, were not the product 
of some natural impulse, but the result of patient, con- 
tinuous, persistent effort to please the Lord in all things. 
And the art has not perished with them, for we, too, 
may please the Lord, and have all the graces of the 
Spirit that made these men immortal, if we will but put 



n8 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

forth an intelligent effort to prepare our hearts for the 
Lord's abiding. Praise His name! 

II. THE INSPIRATION OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 

The glory of the Lord filled the temple. This was 
the inspiration that came to them as they had prepared 
the temple for the worship of Jehovah. All it meant 
to them I might not be able to say; but when the glory 
of the Lord fills this heart of ours we know, by what 
others have enjoyed, what shall be our lot and spiritual 
power. 

It was the Lord's presence that gave the disciples 
such wonderful insight into the truth as we see them 
possess. So it was that same Presence, in the temple of 
old, that gave the Jewish priest, with Urim and Thummim, 
the knowledge of future things, as well as the will of 
God at the time he sought Him and His will. 

Spiritual inspiration has in it the Divine will vivified. 
We know and feel the Divine will as an all-controlling 
truth. How many say, when under the power of spirit- 
ual ministry, "Well, I always knew that; but I saw it so 
plain to-day." This presence of the Lord in worship is 
one of the most important features. It gives deep con- 
victions. It makes a man give up all that this world 
has to offer, and, if need be, face the stake, and welcome 
death, rather than do anything that would violate his 
conscience. Elijah, inspired to convince the Jews on old 
Carmel, and Elijah running before Jezebel, illustrate 
this truth from history. All the world could not have 
made him run when inspired on Carmel. He saw, he 
felt, he experienced the will of God as the only thing 
in this world of consequence; but when the inspiration 
ceased, he was only mentally convicted of the truth. 



Some Items of Spiritual Worship. 119 

To believe that God does inspire those who receive 
His Spirit is the only way we can understand the phe- 
nomena that have occurred in the moral world all down 
the ages. Here and there arises a man who, like Luther 
or George Fox, manifests a knowledge of the truth that 
puts them at once in the lead of all their age. A Savon- 
arola in Florence, or the French Calvin, or the Bohemian 
Huss, or the English Wickliff, ahead of their times, and 
beyond their age, teaching the deep things of God, while 
the learned and the great are lost in the labyrinth of 
darkness and gloom. Behold the same phenomenon in 
the Pentecostal baptism that fell on the apostles! Listen 
to Peter's marvelous sermon, so broad in its historical 
grasp, and convincing in its logic, that it fell like fire 
from the eternal altar on the smitten consciences of the 
apostate Jews, who had crucified their own King. This 
is why we see men utter truths at times to which they 
can scarcely aspire at other times. That there is a direct 
inspiration no one who is familiar with the biography of 
the Christian Church can doubt. And where more 
marked than in our own Church fold? George Fox, 
rising from his lowly calling to be one of the greatest 
religious teachers of the world! Alone, seemingly, rising 
like a lone star in the night, and shining out with such 
brightness that the whole realm of Great Britain was 
illumined by the clear light of the truth, by inspiration, 
he taught. And while Lord Bacon and the brains of the 
literary world were saying things savoring more of sin 
than sanctity, this simple, sanctified man gave forth the 
sure Word of God as he had read and received it from 
the Almighty. O yes, this is a fact in history, that the 
inspiration of the Spirit does give light and sure guidance 
in Divine things. 



120 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

Then the inspiration of the Spirit gives cheerfulness. 
I suppose the Jews, as they saw the glory of the Lord, 
the celestial fire, the vesture of God's presence, filling the 
temple, their hearts leaped with joy; and the joy abode 
while the Almighty was in the shekinah of the temple. 
So with the joy Jesus promised to His disciples who 
would ask largely. That meant no other than asking 
for the Spirit, who would give joy as long as He was wel- 
come and had the right of way in their hearts. The 
disciples surely had a joy as supernatural as was their 
intelligence. Hated, shunned, cast out as evil, hunted, 
and chained in cells of filthiest character, ostracized by 
their own families, and regarded as the enemies of God 
and man, yet were able to rejoice all the while. In prison, 
Paul could sing and rejoice; in weakness, in perils, in 
wanderings, in shipwrecks; and though at last, in old 
age, all he ever got for his love and fidelity to mankind 
was imprisonment and death, yet he ever rejoiced. Many 
have suffered, and did nobly, yet without the triumph 
of joy; but the apostles manifested the wonderful might 
of Divine inspiration by rejoicing under all the severest 
trial that malice and bigotry could heap upon them. 

John Howe, the noted Puritan preacher, chaplain to 
Cromwell, was so gloomy before he knew the Lord that 
those who knew him best despaired of him ever being 
anything, and indeed thought he should end his days as 
an utter imbecile. Xavier was joyful in all his many 
privations. Go to the aged soul, who, in loneliness and 
want, living day by day on the charities of a cold world, 
yet ever rejoicing. To the bed of pain, where languishes 
the disease-weakened form of some prostrated sufferer, 
and yet, while no ray of hope is given of recovery, keeps 
patient years and years, and proving, in the midst of all, 
God's joy of inspiration. 



Some Items of Spiritual Worship. 121 

Belle Cook, of New York, who for thirty years has 
lain abed, and yet, with not a wrinkle on her face and 
a beaming countenance, she lives, a benediction to all 
that enter her home. 

Again, how can we understand the lives of those who, 
year after year, labor in the most trying circumstances 
this wicked world sees or knows ; who, with all the hin- 
drances and discouragements peculiar to a Christ-hat- 
ing populace, yet keep up their enthusiasm for the gospel 
that has driven them to all the four corners of the earth ? 
Go into the densely-populated districts of China, and 
there you will find the enthusiasm of inspiration that 
sent consecrated hearts, beating and throbbing with 
sympathy, all through the sad scenes and trying ordeals 
as though they had all the comforts of life and a guarantee 
of peace and immunity from all failure ; and while, year 
after year, so few of the millions will receive the truth, 
yet their enthusiasm never fails. Go to Africa, where 
death seems to stalk about with his dread sickle, with 
special vengeance toward the missionary, where already 
hundreds on hundreds lie buried on the dread Soudan 
and Congo, amid the savagery and cannibalism of the 
direst sort all about them, with so much hatred to the 
truth, yet, with enthusiasm, Spirit-inspired men and 
women have planted the standard of the Cross, and rally 
round it till the coil of death fastens upon their weakened 
forms and takes them from the task dearer to them than 
their own lives. India, with all its exclusiveness of caste 
and bigotry of priestly superstition, has not been able 
to daunt or dishearten the enthusiastic missionary. When 
it meant more than it now does to live and labor there, 
how the bold, brave men and women of God have labored 
with an enthusiasm not to be found in any of the callings 
of earth ! Year in and year out they have toiled and 



122 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

suffered with a persistent effort to enthrone Christ, their 
King, where now sits the gods of wood and stone. Noth- 
ing has been able to daunt the enthusiasm of those who, 
filled with the Spirit, felt it laid on them to go to the 
benighted and down-trodden, the ignorant and oppressed, 
the vicious and murderous, and, with a loving hand, 
offer them the salvation of the Cross. Go to the eternal 
snows of the North; then turn, and go to the burning 
sand of the South ; then go around the whole equatorial 
earth, from remotest east till you coast along the west- 
ern border of our own land, and there is no place, let 
it be soever unhealthy, remote, uncongenial, or danger- 
ous, where the enthusiasm of the inspired believer has 
not set up the Cross of the Son of God. 

How did it come about? How has it lasted? Simply 
by the enthusiasm begotten of the Spirit. What a mighty 
power is the inspiration of the Holy Ghost! It is none 
other than the power of God in the hearts of men and 
women who have prepared their hearts to receive Him. 
Glory to God for this priceless boon within the reach of 
all God's children! 

This glory manifested at the dedication of the temple 
is more significant than at first occurs to most readers. 
The glory was none other than the celestial fire that is 
the vestment of the Almighty when He is minded to 
manifest His will and power to His own Church and 
people. Its first occurrence in the Scriptures was to 
Abraham, in Gen. vii, 17. Then, again, we see the Lord 
by fire challenging the attention and commissioning 
Moses at the burning bush, which though afire was not 
consumed. Also, when the Law was given on Mt. Sinai, 
the cloud and fire of God's presence covered the mount, 
and all Israel in the valley below trembled at the sight, 



Some Items of Spiritual Worship. 



123 



while any beast that touched the mount was to be stoned 
to death, since Moses, the man of God, was communing 
with his Maker, and receiving the universal law of morals. 
And also, when the disciples met on the day of Pente- 
cost with one accord, and the Holy Spirit fell upon them 
in the form of cloven tongues of fire, and the Christian 
Church was begun in earnest. Lastly, after John had 
baptized Jesus, and Jesus went up out of the water, the 
Spirit, as a dove, not in the form of a dove, but as a dove, 
fell upon Him, and by this John knew it. was the Messiah. 
(John i, 33.) Not that he, or indeed any one, can see 
the Spirit, but the fire that is the vestment of the Divine 
presence or Spirit. Now this is the glory of the apos- 
tolic writings, "Go from glory to glory," etc. Now it 
was this that filled the temple, and it is this that fell on 
Pentecost, and it is this that, without the fire, comes 
now into the believer's soul, which constitutes the in- 
spiration of the believer's life, since the blessed Holy 
Ghost comes, not to be with us, but in us. 

This certifies the Church. Never, till the glory filled 
the temple, was God with them to empower and com- 
municate, and never, till we have the Holy Ghost, and 
consequent inspiration He gives, are we true Israel, or 
believers. One may have a creed well in head, a de- 
nomination well at heart, a form of worship well at hand, 
yet, for all this, no one is a real believer till the Spirit 
fills. When the Spirit fills, then are we His disciples in- 
deed. We can then drink of His cup, and be baptized 
with His baptism, and walk in His way, doing His work 
and will from our hearts. Is it any wonder the blessed 
Lord over and over again exhorted the disciples to tarry 
for the promise of the Father which He was going to 
send upon them? O no! And we often think we need 



124 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

money, more members, more influence; but this is the 
only thing Jesus told His disciples to get, to count upon, 
and expect, for this made them a true Church, and noth- 
ing else can. 

It clarifies faith. Many dear, good people ever look 
their faith in a sort of haziness, a kind of twilight belief, 
just for want of the clear, defining power of the Holy 
Ghost. How, when a man receives the Holy Ghost, he 
seems to be a sort of new creature in his belief, when, in 
fact, he has only seen the truth in the clear light of the 
fire of God's presence! How the furniture of the temple, 
all golden, must have shone with a sheen unearthly and 
Divine when the shekinah of the Divine presence was 
in the temple! The altar and all that pertained to it 
must have been resplendent with the heavenly radiance, 
and O, how beautiful it must have been to the Jehovah- 
honoring Jew! But just this the Spirit does for all who 
will receive Him into their hearts now. A man may have 
believed in the atonement with all his heart before bap- 
tized with, the Spirit, but he sees it now so clear he is 
about to believe he was a half-infidel before. So with 
the Fatherhood of God, the ministry of angels, and all 
the other blessed truths of the Bible. He sees so plainly 
now, he simply marvels at his past stupidity, and yet per- 
haps he has not had a single new idea imparted into his 
mind. But what he held in the dim twilight he sees now 
in the high noon of a holy heart. Glory! 

It intensifies his appreciation. Not only does the Spirit 
make truth stand out clear and well-defined, but He 
gives us a more just appreciation of the value of those 
truths. It is this blessed baptism that has caused men and 
women of God to go to their closets and pour out their 
souls to God in mournings that can not be uttered. This 



Some Items of Spiritual Worship. 



125 



has impelled godly men and women to do the new things 
that incur the displeasure of the cold and indifferent, in 
order to get the heedless world to look and live. This 
heavenly fire fell on Luther, and made him dare all the 
opposition of the legal Church in his days. This flame 
burned in the heart of Fox, and impelled him to leave his 
bench and tools to go out into the streets to preach 
Christ and incur persecution and prisons. This has sent 
men into the dark continents of the earth, to people be- 
nighted and sunk in sin beyond our knowledge to con- 
ceive or appreciate ; to dare the storm of the sea, the 
tooth of the cannibal, and the claw of the beast. This 
has constrained men to leave the company and comforts 
of home and native land, and sojourn in the densely-popu- 
lated regions of China, in the caste-cursed and priest- 
ridden precincts of India, and to dare the death-dealing 
lands of the Soudan and the Congo. This has made the 
island of the sea more to be desired than all the environ- 
ments of their native land. It has driven them to pene- 
trate the regions of eternal snows, and plant the standard 
of Jesus Christ in the ices of the North; energized by this 
fire, they have pressed the burning sands of the equator, 
and in the straw and mud hut of the black man, to un- 
fold the riches of the glorified Redeemer. Yes, prompted 
by the Divine energy,* they have felt the impulse to girt 
the world for God, till to-day the sun never sets where 
the gospel has not risen, and no land on earth has not 
felt the tread of the missionary's feet. 

This blessed Spirit has founded the Sunday-schools, 
opened missions, visited jails, relieved the poor, com- 
forted the sick, built up the waste-places of God's heri- 
tage, and in many places has made the desert to rejoice 
and blossom as the rose. And when so many are so foot- 



126 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

bound, worse than the poor Chinese (in our Churches), 
and mouth closed more effectually than Hindoos, who 
do not allow their women to talk; when we see so 
many empty chairs in the prayer-circle, and so much 
talent lying idle, O how my heart yearns once more for 
the filling of the glorious Spirit of the Lord, who does 
such wonders for all who receive Him! 

And, lastly, it purifies. No matter how carefully the 
offerings were prepared for the altar, they were not 
finished nor accepted till fire had done its blessed work. 
Then, if anything impure or unhealthy remained after the 
careful inspection of the priest, it was burned up, and 
thus made clean. So with the fire of God on the heart 
of the believer. It purifies and cleanses from all un- 
righteousness, and makes the believer and service ac- 
ceptable unto God. No more important is the fire under 
the crucible to purge the gold from dross, no more re- 
quisite is the sun in high heaven to dispel the frost and 
cause the plants to flower and the trees to fruit, no more 
indispensable is the atmosphere of the earth to the life 
upon its surface, than the blessed Holy Ghost is to the 
believer's heart who would be and remain all the blessed 
Lord would have him be. 

Then, lastly, note: 

III. THE CESSATIONS OP SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 

The text says the priests could not minister by reason 
of the glory of the Lord filling the temple. Now it comes 
to me like this : The presence of the Lord in the temple 
supplants, not the good, but the fleshiness of all par- 
ticipants. 

Now the deeds of the flesh are a whole lot of things 
that we are all so well acquainted with that we almost 



Some Items of Spiritual Worship. 



127 



blush to mention. But the form I would dwell upon are 
those peculiar to the altar when the flesh is permitted to 
officiate. 

Pride, envy, jealousy, hatred, covetousness, laziness, 
and all those many evils that are the product of the carnal 
nature, and which can be hid, in a measure at least, in 
the heart of the possessor, till they come out at the altar 
of service. 

How much pride there is in many a heart that really 
loves the Lord! It can not endure to be lowly like its 
Master, but wishes the lofty places of earth. But when 
the Spirit comes in, all this ceases. Praise the Lord! 

Personal ambition is lost in the sight of some great 
event or development. Men lose sight of the selfish in 
the presence of the sublime. 

Doubts were all put away in the presence of the fire 
of God in the grand old temple of Solomon. Men saw 
and said it can be, instead of it can't be, as so often in 
these days of no Spirit and power. 

All little feuds will end under the light of the Shekinah. 
No hate ever goes through the fire of the Holy Ghost. 
Glory ! It all goes. 

The flesh all ceases. If we would know what are the 
things of the flesh, let us look to the writings of the 
apostles. They had to do with the flesh, and they knew 
its numerous aspects well. 

O, then even the head of the preacher is lost! The 
itching ears of the pew, the hypocritical faculty of the 
cold and indifferent. God is now enthroned Lord over 
all in the heart and the worship of His people. 

Will we prepare for the blessed Spirit, and welcome 
Him when He comes? 



XIII. 
ELISHA, OR THE DOUBLE PORTION. 

"And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion 
of thy spirit be upon me." (2 Kings ii, 9-15.) 

"THE man versed in biography need not be a fool. 
Lives of others are a study no man can afford to neg- 
lect. The Bible is very fruitful of remarkable lives. The 
good and the bad, the great and the small, the success- 
ful and those that have failed, all find record in the 
Book that God intends to be our daily companion and 
instructor. And throughout its pages there are few lives 
more instructive than those of the twin prophets, Elijah 
and Elisha. 

We find Elijah brought to view without ancestry 
or birth recorded, and simply introduced to us as Elijah 
the Tishbite, as he came from Tish. He was a very re- 
markable man in everything that is to be associated 
with his life. The first words he uttered in our hear- 
ing were, "As the Lord God liveth, before whom I 
stand." These words seem to be the motto of his event- 
ful life ; and from the uttering of these words till we 
see him translated in the chariot of fire, there is noth- 
ing ordinary to be seen. But it is Elisha that repre- 
sents this, the gospel dispensation. 

The first act of Elijah after he is brought to view 
is confronting Ahab with the assurance that no rain 
shall fall for years, only as he said. Then, after he deliv- 
ers his message, God sends him to the brook Cherith, 

128 



Elisha, or the Double Portion. 129 

where he was fed by the ravens (rather humble serv- 
ants), but they did their work well. Then, when the 
brook dried up because of no rain, God sent him to 
the widow of Zarephath, whose handful of meal the man 
of God multiplied and then shared. The next thing that 
we see the man of God doing is raising the dead son of 
the widow to life. Then the word of the Lord came 
to Elijah to go and show himself to Ahab; and, while 
he was on his way, he was met by the good Obadiah. 
And Obadiah fell on his face before the man of God, 
but Elijah cut short the scene with the instruction to 
go and tell Ahab that he would show himself to him 
that day. But Obadiah said, "Not so; for if I go to 
tell Ahab, the Spirit of the Lord will come and catch 
you away, and I shall not be able to find thee, and I 
shall be put to death." But Elijah said, "I will show 
myself to Ahab this day." So Obadiah went to Ahab, 
and Ahab came to meet Elijah, and said, "Art thou he 
that troubleth Israel?" And Elijah stood up like a 
true man of God, and told the whole truth, and said 
it was he and his fathers that troubled Israel with their 
sins. So Elijah had him call all the Baalites and proph- 
ets of the groves and the hosts of the worshipers to Mount 
Carmel. And there he called the fire from heaven down 
upon the sacrifice he had prepared after the Baalites 
had failed to make their gods hear. Then, the people 
being convinced that the Lord Jehovah is indeed the 
God of all the earth, he had the priests of the grove and 
the prophets of Baal executed; for that was the only 
way to stop that idolatrous worship. We next see him 
running from Jezebel, and taking shelter in the cave, 
and asking God to let him die. But God comes to him, 
and gave him sleep and something to eat, and he went 
9 



130 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

on to Horeb. There God spoke to him in the still small 
voice, after he failed to find any voice in the wind or 
earthquake. Then God assured him that there were 
in Israel seven thousand that had not bowed their 
knees to Baal, and commissioned him to go and anoint 
Elisha prophet in his stead. So he departed thence, 
and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, plowing in the 
field with twelve yoke of oxen, and passed by and cast 
his mantle upon him; and as soon as Elisha went home 
and made an offering of his cattle to the Lord, he left 
all, and followed Elijah. We next see Elijah confront- 
ing King Ahab, as he went to see the vineyard of poor 
Naboth that he had put to death; and there Elijah told 
the king of the death he and his wife Jezebel should die. 
And again we see Elijah on the mount, when the mes- 
sengers of the wicked king of Samaria and their men 
were killed as they tried to compel him to come down. 
And afterward Elijah came down, went to see the king, 
and told him that he should not live, and then the Lord 
appeared to him and told him that he should be taken 
up. So we see both prophets at Gilgal. And Elijah 
said unto Elisha, "Tarry here, while I go to Bethel;" 
but Elisha said, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul 
liveth, I will not leave thee." So they went together; 
and when they got to Bethel, Elijah said to Elisha, 
"Tarry here till I go to Jericho." And Elisha said 
the same thing, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul 
liveth, I will not leave thee." And on they journeyed 
till they came to Jericho. And there again Elijah said 
to Elisha, "Tarry here; for the Lord has sent me over 
the Jordan." But Elisha repeated his vow to stay with 
him. And then when they had reached the other side 
of the Jordan, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall 



Elisha, or the Double Portion. 131 

do for thee, and it shall be done for thee." So Elisha 
answered in the language of our text, "Let a double 
portion of thy spirit fall upon me;" and it was promised 
him if he should see him when he was taken up, which 
he did, and received the promised blessing. 

Let us note from this lesson a few things that may help 
us, and we must, in discussing the subject, remember these 
men were no ordinary men, but both prophets. How r 
that Elijah could make such a promise, and how Elisha 
could reasonably ask such a favor, must be read in the 
light of their high character as prophets of God. I 
think the question was the result of the Holy Ghost, as 
was also the promise or permission to ask. And the 
fulfilling and the method of manifestation can not be 
measured by any ordinary rules. Indeed, the whole af- 
fair takes us out of the ordinary. At first it seems that 
there is little in the lesson that can in any practical way 
help us; but when we look into it as one of the lessons 
of Scripture that is given by inspiration of God, and is 
profitable for correction and instruction in righteousness, 
and is recorded for our use, we are encouraged to follow 
the Spirit's leading in its interpretation and application. 
At all events, they were men as we are. They had to 
do with the Spirit of God as we may; and if God had 
something good for them, it may be He has also for us. 
So let us go back to the first we know of these men. 

1. note the: promise that elisha had. 

"Man never is, but always to be blest," the poet has 
said. This is pre-eminently true of the religious man. 
The psalmist said, "God is a Sun and Shield ; the Lord 
will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he 
withhold from them that walk uprightly." And Jesus 



132 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

said, "Ask and ye shall receive," etc. And again He 
said, "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name; 
ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." 
Elijah told Elisha to ask what he would. If some mill- 
ionaire should tell me that, how we would make him 
wince for the work of the Lord! Jesus tells us to ask 
that our joy might be full. If some bank had said the 
same to us, how we would endanger that bank! How 
we would draw till it would pinch! I know we would. 
But God has offered to favor our check for any amount, 
that our joy might be full; and w r e still go mourning. 
God has been trying for six thousand years to get a 
run on the bank of heaven without success. God tells 
us to ask — not for wealth, riches, nor honor of earth. 
God loves His children too much to give them such 
sharp instruments to cut themselves with. Elijah did 
not tell Elisha to ask for a farm. That would have been 
his ruin perhaps. Elijah knew what Elisha would ask 
for, if anything. Many promises in the Bible are so 
broad that the ungodly fall over them because they are 
not answered in their way. 

Elijah told Elisha to ask anything, and it would be 
done, if he complied with the condition of receiving. 
Christ told His disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until they 
be endued with power from on high; for He would send 
the promise of the Father upon them. Glory! And 
after the baptism of Pentecost, Peter, in his defense of 
the outpouring of the Spirit, said, "The promise is unto 
you and your children, and to them that are afar off, 
and even to as many as the Lord your God shall call." 
So that the promise comes to us this morning just as 
much as it did to the disciples. And the other promise 
of fullness of joy is to us to-day just the same as to 



Elisha, or the Double Portion. 133 

them, if we are in Christ. Elijah's promise was large, 
but not larger than the promise of the Savior to us. 
Elijah said, "Ask what I shall do for thee;" Jesus says, 
"I will send the promise of power upon you;" "Ask, 
and your joy shall be full," and "I will not leave you 
comfortless." Praise the Lord for these promises! If 
no one ever had received them, it would be grand as 
an incentive, but great numbers have received them to 
to the joy of their hearts. And the way is open to-day 
for every child of God to come to the fountain, and 
drink and be satisfied. 

Do you have a craving in your heart that is not 
satisfied? Do you have temptations too great to bear? 
Do you get overcome of the evil one? Do you long 
for the joy of the Lord that was once your strength? 
Do you want power for service and duty? Why not 
ask for it ? and you shall have it. If you are in the way, 
and are children of God, remember that nothing is too 
good for you. Bless the Lord! The Elijah of our soul 
tells us to ask. "And whatever ye ask in My name, 
that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the 
Son." 

There are three things that Christ specified that He 
would give us; so we need not be at a loss to know 
what we may ask for. 

The first is power. O that Divine attribute in the 
souls and lives of men! 

He has promised us joy — fullness of joy — the pledge 
of Divine presence in our souls, joy that makes life 
worth living, joy for which kings seek and seek in vain, 
because they seek amiss. 

Comfort and the Comforter, to solace our grief, to 
calm our fears, to sustain our toil, to inspire our hearts, 



134 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

and to give us a little heaven to go to heaven in. O, 
the joy of the Lord is for you, my brethren! 

O my brethren! Is all this worth asking for? Is 
there anything in all this wide world that is not included 
in these promises ? I think not. 

Let us note, in the next place, 

II. THE PETITION THAT EUSHA MADE. 

He had the opportunity, and he availed himself of 
it. Elijah told him to ask what he would, and he did 
it. O, that we were as wise! He said, "Give a double 
portion of thy spirit." Elijah said, "Thou hast asked 
a hard thing." Elijah was a good man, but Elisha 
wanted to be a better one if possible. Far too many 
of us are too easily satisfied with a low state of grace. 
We want to prosper in business, and have scarcely any 
patience with those who have no business capacity. We 
want to get on and do well in the lines of life that are 
embraced in the temporal sphere of being. But O, how 
easily are we to be satisfied in the realm of the grace 
of God! But not so with Elisha. He said, "Give me 
a double portion;" and Elijah said: "Thou hast asked 
a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am 
taken up, it shall be unto thee even as thou hast asked." 
But it is a hard thing, however. 

What was it that made Elijah say it was a hard 
thing that Elisha had asked? Was it hard on the side 
of duty? Was it hard on the side of life? Was it hard 
on the side of the Almighty? What was that he had 
in his mind? Could Elijah think, as so many do, that 
it would be hard for Elisha to live the life that a double 
portion of the spirit would necessitate? Now, we know 
there are not a few that seem to think that the nearer 



Elisha, or the Double Portion. 135 

we live to God, the harder it is to be good. I once 
asked a minister — and, withal, a goodly man — if he was 
living in the enjoyment of holiness, to which he replied, 
with a sigh, "I once did, but do not now." And we know 
Alfred Cookman, one of the best of men, lost his experi- 
ence of holiness talking foolishly with some brethren in the 
ministry, and it was ten years before he ever again re- 
ceived the blessing. Was it because it is hard to live 
holy? Is it easier to live in a low Christian experience 
than to live up to our privileges? Let us see. Religion 
is spoken of as health. Is half-sick the ideal state? 
Religion is spoken of as a possession. Is poverty the 
ideal condition? Religion is spoken of as freedom. Is 
slavery in part the coveted situation of life? O no, of 
course not, you say. Then, how can we say that it is 
easier to live in a low Christian experience, and to be satis- 
fied to remain in that condition ? If this was the thought 
that was in the mind of the prophet, it would be strange 
and unlike him, we all say. But that others think the 
same, we are not sure; so the thought must be con- 
sidered. Sin is death. To be satisfied with death argues 
a dead man. At least it does to me. Having tried 
both ways, I can testify that the only way to live for 
Jesus is to be all, ever, only for Him. We look upon 
religion as a something to keep ; and, of course, the more 
we have to keep, the greater the undertaking. Or we 
look upon it as a duty, which, the more we have, the 
greater the tax. But, indeed, the contrary is the truth. 
Religious life, health, and happiness, finding expression 
in the acts we call religion. 

Could Elijah have in his mind the thought of serv- 
ice that would be imposed upon Elisha if he had a 
double portion of his spirit? I think not; though we 



136 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

often do. And we seem to think those that work so 
much for God have certainly a hard time. But is it so? 

no; for all duty becomes a delight, and all labor a 
luxury. The boy full of life loves to play. The man 
of health enjoys his exercise. The life that courses 
through us makes it the law of our being to work. And 
no man can keep religion so easily, or can be kept by 
religion as easily as the man that is busy about the 
work of the Lord. Some one asked Mr. Moody if he 
was ever troubled with doubts, to which he replied that 
he never had time to doubt. And when we are right 
with the Lord, we will love to work. But to those 
who do not want to work; those who want to slight 
the work of the Lord, and would be gtad to get to 
heaven by the skin of their teeth; those who endeavor 
to do as little as possible for the Lord — that is, the luke- 
warm — I greatly fear for them. It will be hard for 
them when they come to the gate and find it closed. 

Could he mean hard to be good in the sense of 
pure affections and even tempers? Was he thinking 
of the difficulty of loving the unlovable, of being pa- 
tient in trials, of overcoming evil with good in every 
case? And would this be hard to do? If a man did it 
half the time, and he desired to have a double portion 
of God's Spirit to do it all the time, would that be hard? 

1 think not. For we all, from experience in Divine things, 
know that we love and have patience because the love 
and patience are put into us. We often hear sermons 
on patience and love, that all fall to the ground with- 
out avail, because we are exhorted to overcome when 
the overcome is not put into us. Love being put in, 
it is no trouble to work out. The hard part of religion 
with us all is the habitual neglect of Divine aid. We 



Elisha, or the Double Portion. 137 

pray, but do not expect to get anything; so we get 
nothing. So we neglect prayer as a sort of superfluous 
rite that is all right if we have plenty of time ; but for us 
busy folks it is almost as impossible as it is impractical. 
God help us to get out of prayer the help the Lord has 
designed it to be to us in our daily lives! A day opened 
by prayer that touches God is half well spent; but a 
day that is lived in our own strength is a failure through- 
out. It is not hard to be good when the good is in us 
and can come out naturally when we need it. 

Could the prophet mean it was hard for the Al- 
mighty? You all say at once, No; and I will say it 
with you in the day we live in. But the days of Cal- 
vary had not yet come. Sinai was the furthest the race 
had run; and Calvary and Pentecost existed only in 
promise. The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because 
Christ was not yet glorified. Elijah seemed to live up 
to the highest stage of Old Testament piety. And 
Elisha asking for the double portion of the Spirit took 
him beyond into the realm of another dispensation. 
Perhaps in this the prophet saw it was a hard saying. 
The Old Testament saints had the Spirit for service 
only. When God wanted a prophet, He put His Spirit 
upon him, and sent him out to do his work; and when 
the work was done, the Spirit seemed to be withdrawn, 
and the man left to himself. This is, I think, why our 
Savior laid so much stress upon the fact that the Spirit 
of truth should come to abide; for it had never been so. 
This is why, no doubt, that when the prophet had his 
work done he was as weak as other men. He was a 
host on Carmel, but a wreck and failure when he had 
done his work, and was running from Jezebel. My 
friends, how bold you were when you were first con- 



138 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

verted! How you could tell the world how much you 
loved Jesus, and then, when we lost our joy and the 
sheen of our experience, we had nothing to say out of 
sheer fear. But this is all our fault; for God in this day 
will abide with us forever. Glory! It may be the re- 
quest was meant to provide double power or double 
constancy. At all events, he certainly seemed to get 
both. 

Elijah said, "If thou seest me when I am taken up, 
it shall be done to thee even as thou hast asked." And 
as they both went across the Jordan, a whirlwind came 
along and took the man of God up; and, I think, as 
the dust rose around the head of Elisha as Elijah was 
going up, he brushed the dust out of his eyes, and cried 
out: "My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and 
the horsemen thereof!" He wanted Elijah to know he 
had seen him go up. And as the mantle fell to the earth, 
Elisha picked it up, and went on his way. He complied 
with the condition, and received the inheritance. Jesus 
tells us He will send the promise of the Father upon us 
if we tarry in Jerusalem ; and O, that we would obey His 
word ! 

We look upon Elijah running before Jezebel, and 
we wonder how he ever was such a coward. But he 
had the Spirit only for service, and then the Spirit was 
gone. And some of us have abused poor Elijah in 
times past by criticising him for his cowardice, when 
the truth is, he was only a man when left to himself. But 
we can have the Spirit — the double portion of it — all the 
time; and yet, because we do not wait for it, we go 
a-running from duty, and compromise our high calling 
every day. I believe George Fox was a braver man 
than ever Elijah was; for he never denied the Lord 



Elisha, or the Double Portion. 139 

once, and men and devils all failed to make him run 
from duty. I believe John Knox, John Wesley, Jon- 
athan Edwards, Charles Finney, and the hosts of the 
Lord of to-day, are away ahead of all the Old Testa- 
ment saints, because they have the abiding of the Holy 
One continually. O that we could aspire and obtain it 
this day! Millions waited to see the day in which we 
live, and saw it not; looked for the coming of the Holy 
One that would abide with them, and He came not; but 
to us, we have Him with us, and He wants to come 
into our hearts to abide, as the double-portion power 
for service and anchorage, for the day of trouble and 
hour of trial. This makes the difference between the 
one man and the other in the service of God, in the 
mission-field, in the home. Yes, we can not live the 
life of the Christian without the abiding of the double 
portion of God's Spirit. 

So let us consider, in the next place: 

in. the: possession that elisha held. 

God had given something to Elisha to do, and as 
soon as he seemed to have picked up the mantle of 
Elisha, he went on his way, which took him back over 
the Jordan toward Jericho. 

I do not suppose he felt anything of a particular 
change in his condition after he got hold of the mantle. 
Elijah said he should have the power with the mantle, 
so he had the power in the possession of the mantle; 
for it was the promise. How often have you come to 
the blessed Lord, and asked for the power, and gave all 
into His hand; and did the best you knew how, giving 
all you knew, and all you did not know, to be the 
Lord's forever; gave yourself into His hand, body, soul, 



140 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

and spirit, time, talent, and earthly store; but because 
you did not feel some great change go on in your heart 
at the time, you thought certainly the Lord had not 
done what He said He would do. It is not a little 
amusing to see how incredulous we are, when we think 
that God has promised us the Holy Spirit, and it does 
not impoverish Him to give, nor enrich Him to with- 
hold, and that He is in earnest about our holiness — to 
come to Him and ask Him to fill us with the Spirit, 
and then go away and not put it into practice for fear 
we will not have it. O how often have we all done it! 
It was a hard thing for Elisha to get the double portion 
in his day; for Christ was not yet glorified. But we, 
living in the full blaze of gospel truth, and the end of 
the world is upon us, and God has done all for the race 
that He can till we get to glory, and yet some of us liv- 
ing without the Spirit; living in the willful neglect of 
the plain command to be filled with the Spirit. I am 
afraid, my friends, 'Elisha will rise up in that great day, 
and put us to shame for unbelief or worldliness, or 
whatever keeps us from the fullness of the blessing of 
the Holy Ghost baptism. 

Then, my friends, see what it did for Elisha. We can 
not think of Elijah, that great man of God — who could 
stand before kings and issue the mandates of Almighty 
God; that could confront all the prophets of Baal; that 
could refuse obedience to regiments of men who came 
to apprehend him — without admiration. His majestic 
form and character seem to tower above all around 
him, and he seems to have but one aim, and that the 
glory of God. And yet, how humiliating to see the 
same mighty man of God run like a scared deer before 
that cruel, godless Jezebel! Like Peter before the 



Elisha, or the Double Portion. 141 

Pentecost, denying the the Lord before a little damsel 
that asked him a plain question. O, the weakness of 
humanity without God to re-enforce! But the double 
portion of God's Spirit was sufficient for all and every- 
thing that Elisha had to go through. Glory! Elisha 
could be true to God under all circumstances when filled 
with the Spirit; and throughout his long life of dealings 
with saints and sinners, kings and subjects, no one 
was ever able to make him run or draw back. And in 
this he again resembles Peter after Pentecost — moves 
like an army of warriors, and stands like a tower of 
strength. O my friends! How man)' of us have de- 
nied our Savior in trying scenes! How many of us 
have sat at the table of those who knew not the Lord, 
and heard our Lord's name spoken of in a disrespectful 
manner, and never owned Him as our Savior, nor said 
a word of rebuke to the good of those that so much 
needed it! How many times have we sat silently when 
we should have spoken, or spoken when we should have 
held our peace! O, how much we need the double por- 
tion expressed in the Pentecost! We may receive it 
to-day if we would. God's Spirit did much for Elisha, 
but will do as much for us. It helped him to stand 
when the storms beat upon him ; to be faithful when oth- 
ers were faithless; to work when others were lying 
around, wishing to die, or something worse. O, it did 
much for him! And it did as much for the world as it 
did for Elisha. For all that we are, in turn we are able 
to be to the world that so much needs us and our lives 
of trust. Elisha walked up to the Jordan, and smote 
the waters, saying, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" 
as much as to say, "In the name of the Lord God of 
Elijah, I tell thee to part." Of course, the waters obeyed. 



142 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

Glory! And the sons of the prophets saw him do the 
mighty deed in the name of Jehovah, and they gave 
him a job to sweeten the water and make it good; for 
it was not healthy. He salted the water in the name 
of the Lord God, and it, and the land through which 
it flowed, were cured and made healthy. 

He pursued the even tenor of his way — raising the 
dead, multiplying oil, feeding kingdoms — until his end. 
He asked for a double portion of God's Spirit; and if you 
will count, you will find he just did double the miracles 
that Elijah did. And when he comes down to die, we see 
the king of Israel bending over him with streaming eyes, 
asking for instruction in the preparation of war and the 
management of his kingdom. And almost with his 
latest breath he rebuked the king for not being in earnest 
to put down the enemies of God. A blessing in his 
life, a blessing in his death, he went to be with the God 
that had done so much for him, went to get the reward 
of the righteous. Glory! 

My friends, will we get the double portion of the 
Spirit? 

Christ has promised it to us. Will we seek and 
get and live it to His glory and the world's good? 

Do we not want to be able to please God at all times, 
to be ready for His coming? O, I know you do! 

Are we as good as God ever made any one in our 
day? If not, why not? We owe it to our Church, to 
our children, to the age, and to the world. 

How Mrs. Booth blessed the world by her devoted 
life! Her nine children all in the ministry of the Lord. 
What a testimony, what a monument to her honor! 
How is it with our children? God help us! 

Christ told us to ask the same as Elijah told Elisha 



Elisha, or the Double Portion. 143 

to ask. Are we doing it? A friend asked King James 
for a large sum of money, and he granted him the re- 
quest. The money was counted out by the treasurer; 
and King James went into the bank, or vault, and, see- 
ing the money on the floor, asked the treasurer what all 
this money meant; and he said, "It is the money you 
are going to give that man." He said, "All this?" And 
the treasurer told him it was. "Why," said he, "I will 
not give him all that money. Put it back in the vault, 
and give him just so much," cutting it down to about 
one two-hundredth part. But Christ does not so do. 
He tells us to ask, and He will most assuredly give; for 
it does not impoverish Him. Neither is He fickle as 
the king. Will we this day present our claims? O do! 
for the sake of all concerned — your soul, your Church, 
your family, and your God — and it will be yours for- 
ever. Some one will say, "I am so unworthy;" but 
Christ is worthy. And God knows there is not one in 
this house so unworthy as I have been — the chief of 
sinners, a wandering prodigal — and yet God did not de- 
spise me when I came to Him, and I know He will not 
you. Come, and find the promised filling; and I know 
you will not upbraid the speaker for his plea. May 
God bless and keep you, for His name's sake, pure unto 
His coming! 



XIV. 
GOD'S WORD LEARNED, LIVED, AND LOVED. 

"Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not 
sin against Thee." (Ps. cxix, n.) 

JWI ANY tributes have been paid to the Word of God 
* * by the great of earth. Sir Walter Scott said, 
when dying, "There is no other book." Samuel Johnson 
told a young man that if he had the Bible, and no other 
book, he would have a good library. Matthew Arnold, 
the renowned critic, said he regretted that so many so- 
called literary men knew nothing of the Bible, and told 
Charles Read, that whatever other book he slighted, to be 
sure to read the Bible. Read did so, and was converted 
by so doing. It was the Bible that converted the poet 
Cowper, and the noted lecturer and writer, General Lewis 
Wallace. But to the child of God it has a far higher 
and different value than a mere literary production, merit- 
ing the veneration and esteem of the literary faculty. 
It is the man of his counsel, the armory of his spiritual 
weapons, and the shield that protects and saves his faith. 
It has ever been the mark of piety to love the Bible, 
and to know it has been the pride and joy of some of 
the greatest and best men the world has ever had. Alex- 
ander Duff, the devoted missionary of India, was on the 
way to his field of mission work around the Cape of 
Good Hope, and on the much-dreaded, fatal sand-bar 
that stretches out to sea some fifty miles from the shore, 
the Lady Holland, on which he had taken passage, ran 

144 



God's Word Learned, Lived, and Loved. 145 

aground on the rocks. Duff had with him about eight 
hundred books in his library, which were all lost. After 
the passengers and sailors had taken shelter in some tem- 
porary sheds, a sailor walking along the shore found, 
high and dry, a Bible and a Scotch hymnal, with the 
name of Duff distinctly written on the pages, which 
were turned over to the owner; but all his other books 
were sunk or reduced to pulp. Mr. Duff felt it a hint 
from the Almighty that what the world wants is not 
classic lore, but the Bible, and he ever acted upon the 
suggestion, and made the Bible the one Book of his 
heart. David over and over again praises God's Word, 
and said it was sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. 
There are other books that are more or less valuable, 
but the Bible is the Word of God. Many eagles there 
are that soar the heavens: some fly rather low to the 
earth, others fly much higher, yet in sight of man, while 
others fly, seemingly, up to the very sun, out of sight 
of man and earth. So with books as compared with the 
Bible: some soar higher than others, but the Bible goes 
up to the very throne of the Eternal God. And while 
the Bible we have is but a translation of the original 
manuscripts, it is so nearly perfect as a copy that only 
about one text in sixty is essentially different, or differs 
from the various manuscripts extant; so that we have 
a rule of life and conduct that is Divine, and every wise, 
loyal child of God should know the Bible. As a seaman 
must know his compass in order to sail the high seas, 
as a traveler must know his maps to follow the right 
course in the trackless wilderness, so the believing heart 
must know the Bible, to be able at all times to be 
steady, and have a "Thus saith the Lord" for the course 
he is taking. 
10 



146 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

And if the God of all grace should arrange to make 
known His will to His children through forty different 
inspired souls; if over a space of nearly two thousand 
years He gave His mind to the world in installments, 
seen in the different books of the Bible, from Genesis 
to Revelations; if God all down the ages has cared for 
and protected it from oblivion and destruction; if to-day 
it stands high above all the so-called sacred books of 
the world, — surely the child of God that wishes to be right, 
and to walk safely, will give time to read and under- 
stand, and will obey this priceless treasure. And while 
it would take many volumes to write or say all one could 
say about the words of God as revealed in the Bible, yet 
I feel laid on my heart to emphasize just a few points 
that I trust will not be without interest and help. 

Then please note: 

1. LET god's word be learned. 

Spirit. We want to read it to understand its spirit 
or import or inner life. While its authorship covers so 
many centuries; while so many hands have moved the 
pen by the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit; 
while it is replete with history, prophecy, poetry, and 
precept, — yet in all there is just one thought overtopping 
and surrounding all, and that is the redemption in Christ 
Jesus, the Son of God, the Second Adam, sacrificed for 
man. And in all our reading, both in the Old and the 
New Testaments, Jesus should be the first obj ect of 
search. He exists there in symbol and type, He is seen 
in shadow and prophecy, and there is not a book in the 
Volume that does not directly point to the Savior of men 
when we get to understand it. Jesus can be seen in 
Eden, in the ark, in the tabernacle and the temple. He 



God's Word Learned, Lived, and Loved. 147 

is seen in the fiery visions of Isaiah, in the tears of Jere- 
miah, and in the mystery of the Prophet Ezekiel. Christ 
is foretold in the Pentateuch; sings the songs of heaven 
and heart in the Psalms; typified in the historical books; 
His work and way described in the prophecies; suffers 
in the Gospels; controls life in the Acts; is enthroned as 
Lord in the Epistles; and foretold, as the Coming One, 
in the Revelations. Yes, Christ is the burden of the 
entire Bible. 

Its aim. Now that the Bible is not a work on science 
merely is very plain, for it merely alludes to the items 
of scientific investigation, without even hinting at some 
of the things that men to-day rack their brain in trying 
to find out. And while nowhere is it scientifically wrong 
when understood, yet its theme is not science. The bur- 
den .of the Bible is distinctive and definite. A work on 
astronomy, or geology, or any other branch of science, 
is no more special than the aim of the Bible. It gives 
an account of the march of time down the ages, with 
the rise and fall of powers, the failure of men, the apos- 
tasy of God's children, God's sovereignty in using indi- 
viduals for His purpose and glory, yet in all He is work- 
ing but the one line, and that the salvation of those who 
will trust Him and serve Him. There is not a story, an 
incident, an event, an individual, an age, in all the Bible 
that does not in some way represent a phase or phases 
of the great scheme of redemption as regards the Divine 
or human side. All the Bible is significant to the be- 
liever. The ark represents the exclusiveness of salvation; 
the temple its grandeur; the sacrifices its vicariousness ; 
the organized nation of Israel the necesasry separate con- 
dition of the child of God from the world. All is sig- 
nificant and helpful when read with understanding, and 



148 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

all mean and have reference to the one specific work of 
the reconstruction of the race fallen and lost in Adam. 
Now when the Bible is read in this light, there is not a 
single page, scrarcely, that need be dry or unprofitable; 
all is big with instruction. The reconstruction of man 
is the burden the Bible ever bears upon its very heart, so 
to speak, and we may get the greatest lessons out of the 
parts seemingly the less important. 

Its method. As the Bible has a definite theme, so 
has it a definite way or method of executing its object. 
There are many books on the interpretation of the Bible, 
commentaries and dictionaries, and helps innumerable, 
that are of more or less, often less, value ; but, altogether, 
they can be of but little service unless we get the idea 
of the Bible method of instruction; and I am not sure 
that the one who has this idea ever in mind in reading 
the Bible, may not get on almost as well without the 
so-called helps as to waste time and burden his hours 
with helps that ignore the essential feature of God's 
method of instruction. In how many of the helps the 
Holy Spirit is not even so much as hinted at as the In- 
terpreter of the truth of God in the Bible! Some do 
honor the Spirit, and those I am disposed to honor, 
but one can wade through page and volumes innumer- 
able with but little light and help; but God's method is 
invariable and supreme. Does God speak through the 
Bible to His children? All who know the Lord and His 
Word can testify that sometimes the text of a passage 
seems to fairly start from the page to meet our scrutiny, 
and with an assurance born of conviction have been com- 
pelled to say, "That is God's word to me." How many 
times has the troubled, perplexed child of God turned 
to the word of Scripture, and found the thing that above 



God's Word Learned, Lived, and Loved. 149 

all else just suited his case, and made the way plain for 
his faltering feet! So we must infer that if God inspired 
and still continues to instruct through the pages of the 
Bible, to read it as in the presence of God, and looking 
to God's Spirit to explain and make plain, no one will 
ever read the Bible in vain. The Holy Spirit is the In- 
terpreter of the truth of God to man's soul; then honor 
the Spirit in reading. Expect the Spirit to reveal God 
and His will to our soul, and we will never be disap- 
pointed. But to go one step further, the revelation of 
God to the soul is the scheme of Christianity through- 
out. God in the Bible to the reverent reader; God in 
the heart to the worshipful soul; God in the life of the 
obedient servant and fellow-worker is the method of the 
Bible and religion in this and in all times. Paul summed 
up Christianity in one short sentence, "Christ in me the 
hope of glory." The presence of God, superintending 
and directing and overruling and guiding and interpret- 
ing and saving, is the Bible method. Realize God when 
you study the Bible, when you pray, when you work for 
souls, when you fight the enemy of all good, and He 
will never fail you. This is a lesson to learn that it may 
be some of us have not yet fully compassed. 

Its realm. With the above thought in our mind, and 
the text before us, it has left one other lesson to learn, 
and that is, the realm in which the Bible is to hold sway. 
The psalmist makes it plain in one bold stroke, when 
he says, "I have hid Thy Word in my heart." How 
many seeming contradictions are explained and difficul- 
ties removed when we let the heart read the Bible in- 
stead of the head! I can understand how God can be 
just and the justifier of them that believe in Jesus. This 
truth is the way of my life. I have enthroned it in my 



150 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

heart; but to make it perfectly plain to a cold intellect, 
I may not be able. How that God has made all men free, 
and yet has fated all events, I may not be able to com- 
prehend or explain, yet I have that enthroned in my heart 
as a fact that I can not doubt. Many other items in the 
words of God to me that I can not comprehend, and 
yet I have not the least difficulty in disposing of them 
or adjusting them to the place they should fill. Now 
this suggests the place that the Bible must occupy in 
my being. The head can not contain; the heart can 
contain all things, for it is infinite as God and His Word 
are infinite ; so the heart is the faculty with which to read 
the Divine words of God; and thus read, they will ever 
be the lamp to our feet and the light to our pathway 
that God meant they should be. What is God? Who 
can define to the intellect? But to the heart the Bible 
has said He is love. Love — my heart knows what that 
is, though my head does not ; so I will let the heart have 
the whole Bible, and it is plain to me at least. 

One other point in this connection I would empha- 
size, and that is its fullness. There are many lines of study 
for the specialist and the scholar that I will not mention, 
but just to take the one line of biographical study, the 
Bible contains so much that is invaluable to the one that 
would live right, that it is a marvel that any one should 
waste time on the little books of the earth to the neglect 
of the Bible. 

How, in running over the roll-call of Holy Writ, we 
see the spirit of victory made so plain that no one can 
doubt the cause of success or failure in the divine life! 
A present God is the keynote to the lives of all the 
worthies. Abraham walked before God in faith, and be- 
came the friend of the Eternal ■ Moses endured as seeing 



God's Word Learned, Lived, and Loved. 151 

the invisible God, who was ever with him in power and 
pillar and wisdom and guidance; Daniel, David, Joseph, 
and Joshua all served and lived with a present, personal 
God who interposed on their behalf; while the Holy 
Ghost with the disciples, the very God in Spirit was with 
them ever in power and much joy and assurance. This 
is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith in a 
personal, present Christ. This insures humility, gentle- 
ness, goodness, temperance, and faith, as well as an ener- 
getic effort. Then from the lives of the Bible worthies 
we can see how God assuredly knows how to deliver 
the godly out of trouble and temptation. The Scrip- 
tures assure us that the good have many troubles, but 
also that God delivers them out of them all. David was 
persecuted as well as Daniel, yet God enthroned the one, 
and made the other a princely ruler. The dart of Saul 
flew past David, as did the lions walk by Daniel. Joseph 
in prison, and Job in poverty and pain, alike proved that 
God never forsakes His own loved ones. While John 
and Paul and Polycarp were spared to preach the gospel 
amid Christ-haters till Paul was called the aged, John 
was over ninety, and Polycarp ninety-six; and then, 
after assailing the stronghold of the enemy, were per- 
mitted to die the death of martyrs. God saved them for 
Himself all those long, turbulent years of labor unharmed 
and unhurt. Glory! God has proved to all men that a 
sort of poetic justice runs through all His dealings with 
the sons of men. The selfish Lot robbed Abraham of 
the good pastures to which God had led him, and Lot 
lost all in Sodom. Saul tried to take the life of God's 
anointed David, and lost his own life, by his own 
hand, on Gilboa. Adonibezek (Judges i, 17) said, "As 
I have done, so the Lord hath requited me." Yes, all 



152 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

can say that. How this explains the many strange things 
that come into the lives of old that we can not fathom! 
Sowing and reaping are seen all the way through the 
Word of God. You can not get away from sin and God. 
Note, too, that God has shown us the wickedness of all 
men, so that we all should walk cautiously. The sin of 
Adam lost him Eden; sins of men brought the flood, 
burnt the cities of the plains, subverted the kingdoms 
of Judah and Israel, and has cursed the world all down 
the ages. O, how the man who knows the Bible hates 
sin and selfishness! A man once said to me, "I tell you, 
David, a man that sins must expect God to deal with. 
Look at the Old Testament saints and sinners," said he; 
"not one escaped that did wrong." Ah, that is true! 
O, what lessons the biographies of the Bible have to 
teach the one that has a mind and heart to read! These 
are some of the things that the Bible has in store for us 
who know God. I have never known a strong Christian 
that did not love the Bible and enjoy it, whether he could 
read or not. Some of those who know the Bible the 
best can not read themselves, but remember what they 
hear, and treasure it up in their hearts. 

Nowhere in literature do we find a perfect life but in 
the Christ of the Bible. Shakespeare never tried to por- 
tray a perfect man. 

11. i/et god's word be: loved. 

The taunt is often in the mouths of the indifferent and 
the higher critics that we are Bible idolaters — that is, 
Bible worshipers — because we love the words our Lord 
hath spoken. Now if any one can separate the utter- 
ances from the one uttering, so that they in effect can not 



God's Word Learned, Lived, and Loved. 153 

be regaded as the same spirit and mind, then I will not 
love the Bible; but as long as the speaker and the word 
spoken are an expression of the heart within, so long will 
I love the Bible as the expression of the Spirit and heart 
of God. If we love the Speaker we will love the mes- 
sage. 

Then, again, there is no real safe, steady experience 
aside from the teachings of the Bible. Our experience is 
and must be builded upon the teaching of the Bible. Not 
that God does not speak to His children to-day, but He 
has spoken, and He saves in keeping with the Word re- 
vealed. Where do we get a knowledge of God's will for sin 
and salvation but in the text of Scripture? Not that God 
can not save and convert without reading it, but that it is 
His will for it to be read; for He commanded the in- 
spired writers to write, and if they were to write, some 
one was to read, and that one is the man or woman that 
would live godly in Christ Jesus. So, as I love my soul 
and appreciate my salvation, I love the Bible. No won- 
der that Mr. Dwight L. Moody will not allow any book to 
lie upon his Bible, and his is read so much that it is a 
fair literary curiosity. 

Then in the Bible alone we have the record of the 
death of the Son of God. It is a love-letter to the world 
of sinners from the One who loves them with the love 
that took Him to the cross to die for our sins. 

Then it is the only Word on earth as to the future 
of the man of God and the man of sin. Heaven, with 
all its hope and helpfulness, depends upon the Bible for 
its place in the minds of men. 

Nowhere but in the Bible do we find the character 
of God. The world, by wisdom, sought to find out God, 



154 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

but failed. But the Bible makes it all plain and precious, 
for it assures us, "God is love." O, do I love? Then I 
will love His photograph as shown us in the Bible. 

Lastly, there is one more thing that I will mention: 

III. mT THE BIBI^E BE IvOVED. 

The Bible reaches its purpose only as we reproduce 
it in our lives. After we are converted, the world will 
expect to see us walking Bibles, or at least representa- 
tives of its teachings, and O, how sad to see so many fail 
right here at the important point! 

If God has given His Spirit to the Church, and we 
are in the Church, we should be inspired men and women; 
that is, live with an inspiration born of the Spirit* 

If God has given the Spirit to change the hearts of 
men, and we have given our hearts to Him, then we 
should be transformed men and women, changed by the 
power of an endless life. 

If God has given His Spirit to the Church, and all 
must be holy to meet God in peace, we will be working 
Christians, if we live the Bible in our lives. 

If God has prepared a home for the godly in the 
next world, a house of many mansions ; if we are to have 
all that heaven will ever mean to any one when this life 
is over, we should anticipate, taste before, some of its 
sweets by joyful expectancy. O, if we live the Bible, 
it will spoil us for a lot of things that now mar and dis- 
figure the children of God. 



XV. 
GLIMPSES OF EARLY EVANGELISM. 

"If others be partakers of this power over you, are 
not we rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this 
power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the 
gospel of Christ." (i Cor. ix, 12.) 

HP HE apostle Paul is giving, not only a reason for the 
* hope that is in him, but also for the basis of his 
apostolate. And he seems to think it necessary to give 
a rather full expression of his method in the ministry, 
and also his manner of life, as well as an account of his 
own personal piety as pertains to self-control. And one 
can scarcely read this account without seeing the in- 
tensity of that great man's soul. He was all earnest- 
ness; he had but one aim, as he elsewhere states, and to 
carry this out absorbed all his great soul, so that he 
can speak advisedly and helpfully to us in the words 
of the text, as he has by his whole history. 

In this text he lays the foundation for ministerial 
support, not salary-getting, but to enable them to live, 
and yet shows why he does not receive help from those 
to whom he had ministered, giving as his reason that 
he was willing to suffer all things in order that the 
gospel be not hindered. And he assures us that it was 
not an accident, but a deliberate plan, that he did so. 
Now as our religion is a religion of self-denial, and we 
have such an illustrious example in one of the chief 
apostles, as well as in all the others — for to live for God 

i55 



156 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

in the early Church meant that much — so if what may 
be evolved out of this text enforces somewhat of self- 
denial, I trust, at least, you will give your prayerful at- 
tention and sympathy, having, as I do, such a good basis 
for such remarks. 

My subject is large enough to take in almost the 
whole of practical Christianity, but I shall try to limit it 
to a practicable discussion of one or two leading thoughts 
of the text. So I ask you to note, first, that in early 
evangelism, 

I. A LOVE OF THE) GOSPEL WAS A CONTROLLING passion. 

To the apostle that penned these words the gospel 
was a something glorious, for he calls it the "glorious 
gospel," for the gain of which he assures us he counted 
all things but dross or filth, and in which he glorified 
to the exclusion of everything else. The gospel was the 
power of God unto salvation, was worthy of all accepta- 
tion, and was God's unspeakable gift to man. In the 
gospel he saw the unsetting sun of Isaiah's vision; the 
springing water in the wilderness; the fair lily and the 
fragrant rose. Yes, Paul saw all the Old Testament 
shadows and types fulfilled in the gospel committed to 
him. 

But more than mere beauty, he found in it the solace 
of all sin-sorrowing souls. The law was but a school- 
master to lead or drive; the ordinances were only a 
guarantee that Christ should take away the sins of his 
people. In the gospel all men were eligible to be God's 
sons, and it was able to save to the uttermost all that 
came. The gospel was the end of the law. 

And again, in the gospel the apostle saw the last 
effort of the Almighty to bring man to Himself. It is 
the final salvation revealed in the last times. Men had 



Glimpses of Early Evangelism. 157 

longed, hoped, and waited for it, many passed away 
vainly waiting its appearance; but now it had come, the 
promise of God to the race, and his whole soul was 
absorbed with its importance. The apostle, in many of 
the passages of his epistles, seemed to be on an eminence 
that commanded the entire view of the long past, from 
Abel to the last prophet; he seems to have seen all the 
struggles of the souls of honest seekers for help and 
liberty from bondage of self-imposed systems of wor- 
ship; he seems to recall all the heart-longing of the best 
of the heathen philosophers, who, as a last extremity, 
worshiped the "Unknown God;" and realizing the ful- 
fillment of all cravings of the race in the gospel, his 
soul went in a grateful and whole-hearted consecration 
to God, to be used in taking the gospel to the whole 
world to whom it was sent, and that, whether or not it 
was perishing for its life and power. 

This leads us up to the next point I wish to make; and 
that is, early evangelism, manifested 

II. IN THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL, A CONSTANT 
PRIVATION. 

The gospel was dependent on the labors of the dis- 
ciple co-operating with the Holy Spirit in bringing the 
saving truth to the homes and hearts of the unsaved. 
God had not appointed angels, but men, to do this work, 
and one who had received the taste of the heavenly bread 
was to invite the next to him to the gospel feast. All 
who had slaked their thirst at the Fountain of Life, were 
to lead others to its sparkling waters ; all who had basked 
in its golden beams of shining righteousness, were to 
seek those in the darkness and shadow of death, and 
conduct them to the rays of the unsetting sun of gospel 
grace and glory. This stirred the hearts of the early 



158 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

Church to its very depths, and Paul, and indeed all the 
faithful, took their lives and all they held as dear, and 
went abroad spreading the truth. 

The gospel was dependent, so they conferred not with 
flesh and blood, but went everywhere, preaching that 
which had saved their souls. And as God has not guar- 
anteed them a stated salary, nor a large support, nor 
even exemption from persecution and perils of all sorts, 
they went forth to do God's bidding regardless of what 
it meant to them. Paul tarried not even for a salary, or 
even a support. He made tents with his hands — and I 
sometimes wish I could be as independent — and paid the 
price in self-denial that his devotion demanded among 
those who cared for none of these things. 

The gospel was unknown, and the work to introduce 
it was the work of a master of patience and long-suffer- 
ing. Who was Jesus? why should we believe on Him? 
and what good will it do us? were questions coming up 
in the minds of his hearers, to whom, very many at least, 
the change of religion was not only a crime, but utter 
folly, as one was just as good as another if it were yours. 
And so to get the ears of the people to the new religion 
imposed long, earnest work, and often very small re- 
sults, as at Mars' Hill and many other places. But on 
they went, incurring the quizzings and scoffs of those 
ignorant of the power that earnest man had in his soul, 
till at last, by persistent effort, he succeeded in getting 
men to taste and see that God was good, many of whom, 
as he had done once, persecuted the Church, but now 
turned to its defense and support. 

Then the gospel is revolutionary, and men were 
prejudiced. To accept it, on the part of the men of that 
time, enforced upon them a complete change of life. 
Many of them had situated themselves socially and com- 



Glimpses of Early Evangelism. 159 

mercially in such a plight that to become a Christian 
was to revolutionize their whole lives, which filled them 
with prejudice against it; so that while they heard with 
the outward ear, the hearing of the soul was so blunted 
by prejudice that no word of life could find way to their 
souls to save. Why should they give up all to be dis- 
ciples of One who was crucified, and that allowed His 
most faithful to be persecuted, and even put to death, 
without interfering, while they, in worshiping the em- 
peror and the galaxy of gods, had the guarantee of Roman 
protection? And while they felt a hunger in their souls 
that the new religion offered to satisfy, it would be 
purchased at too great a cost; so for the present they 
would put off the matter, and wait for a more convenient 
season. So the apostles were put off to endure unpro- 
tected and unsupported, to wander about in the search 
of some more hopeful and willing, or, what was often the 
case, arrested and thrown into prison, etc., and hard- 
ships of which we will never know in our favored con- 
dition. This was a matter of daily experience with them, 
and yet they embraced it all joyfully, and went about 
with a shining face, making disciples at any cost to their 
own personal convenience and physical well-being; and 
the one great care they manifested, that the gospel de- 
pendent on them for a place in the earth was not hurt by 
their lack of piety or wisdom. This brings me to the 
last thought of the text I shall enforce, and that is : 

III. THE DEFEAT OF THE GOSPEL A CONCEDED POS- 
SIBILITY. 

Paul actually says he suffered all things lest he should 
hinder the gospel. He had primary reference to endur- 
ing poverty and hardship in the ministry, but he also 
says he kept his body under, lest, after preaching the 



160 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

gospel to others, he himself should be a castaway. Which, 
I am sure, will suggest to every inquiring mind the 
thought, How is the gospel hindered, and am I in danger 
of doing it? — feeling that to hinder the gospel is of all 
crimes the greatest. The man that robs me of my purse, 
steals trash; the man that robs me of my life, takes only 
what I must soon give up; but he who robs me of the 
gospel has done me an injury that can only be measured 
by the length of eternity and the glory of heaven that I 
have lost. So it might be well to inquire as to what can 
and does hinder the gospel, that is preventable on the 
part of God's children. 

A wrong estimate of God's moral law as regards its 
value. It is a fact that in some communities and in 
Churches I need not mention, morals are not esteemed 
very highly. There seems to be a sort of ground, in- 
deed, for antinomianism in the Bible reading of some. 
For does not the Bible say we are saved by faith, and not 
by works, and not by deeds of righteousness? And 
did n't Martin Luther, in his eagerness to get away from 
the Roman ceremonies, call the Epistle of James a 
book of straw. We are saved by faith, walk by faith, 
worship in faith, not works. Then how natural for some 
to conclude works are of little importance. But Christ 
said, "Let your light so shine!" Paul, "Be careful to 
maintain good works;" and James said, "Faith without 
works is dead;" and again, John, "He that doeth right- 
eousness is born of God." And yet the Lord's work has 
been terribly hindered by those who profess to love Him 
without keeping His commandments. Hence, we find 
those in the Church that will go in the back door of the 
saloon; will wear good clothes, and not pay their debts; 
will drive a close bargain, when they know the godless will 



Glimpses of Early Evangelism. i6j 

censure Christianity for it. These people may have a 
sort of head religion, but not the spirit or mind of Christ, 
who went about doing good. Doing good! How I love 
those words! Great God, how many of Thy children do 
but little good without it pays, and have an eye to bus- 
iness in every transaction, even when the gospel is hin- 
dered by it! Allow me here to say that any one profess- 
ing to be God's child that does not live a more conscien- 
tious life than a moral infidel, is one of the greatest hin- 
drances to Christianity that the devil has ever devised. 

A wrong estimate of the world's darkness. Men 
need light, not authority. The world don't know God 
(i John ii, 3-4), and God has sent out His children to 
give them the light by evidences, and good works, and 
testimony of our love, and a Bible, etc. 

By a wrong estimate of Christ's example. Christ 
was positive, authoritative, cogent, and why may not we 
be too? is the question in some minds. Christ was in- 
fallible with God's Spirit in Him, why may not we be 
too? Here bigots, zealots, popes, Conventions, and hu- 
man creeds. But Christ came down. We 'd be climbing 
up. Who can claim Divinity because Spirit-baptized? 
Christ showed His Divinity by His miracles. Who of us 
are to raise the dead, and ask for belief on the ground 
of our miraculous works? Christ uttered nothing but 
wisdom, to the confounding of all, and who of us could 
talk an hour without saying some things that were weak 
and almost foolish? And yet some want to imitate Christ 
this way. If you want to get down low, make yourself 
of no reputation, get down to publicans and sinners, etc. 
O, the blood and the blotches caused by the above folly! 

A wrong estimate of the aims of evangelism. Ask 
some why they preach. If honest, they answer, "To help 
11 



1 62 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

my salary;" others, "To enlarge my denomination;" oth- 
ers, "Because it is popular to be busy;" and some for 
Paul and some for Apollos. So denominationalism has 
crushed the life and power of the Church until, to-day, 
if you 'd ask some people what they are, instead of say- 
ing, "Christians," would answer, "We are Quakers," 
"Methodists," "Baptists," etc., any one of which they can 
be and be good for nothing; for I know whole crowds of 
them that never did a soul-saving act in all their lives, and, 
though they have been in the Church for years, not only 
could not say they had led a soul to the Savior, but 
in truth would be compelled to say they had never hon- 
estly labored for one month to that end. 

A wrong estimate of the value of revivals and all 
special efforts. If a revival is in progress, and it is no 
particular trouble, they will attend; but it is not a battle 
they have promised to fight; it is not a campaign they 
have espoused to its victory; it is not the great thing 
that burdens their hearts when on their knees; it is sel- 
dom on their mind when awake. I have talked to people 
that would pose as good enough Church members, that 
talked of special efforts for souls with a frigidness that 
froze the very soul, when, at the same time, some of 
their own family were going to eternal death as fast as 
time rolls. But the earthly evangelism was not incidental, 
as something extra or periodical, as something for a short 
period to be endured, but it was their very Church and 
religious life to be on the alert for souls. 

A wrong estimate of the spirit of discipleship. What 
is the spirit of the true disciple? Is it to look well after 
number one? Is it to see that you always get the best 
end of a trade? Is it to see that no one imposes on you, 
but that you always get your rights? Is it to build your- 



Glimpses of Early Evangelism. 163 

self a reputation, a fortune, a habitation, a bank stock 
here on earth, where the Son of God wandered homeless 
and friendless and comfortless to redeem us, and to set 
an example how to win the world and to live above its 
wiles and power? Ah no, verily! And yet the mass of 
professors live just this sort of lives. Is it not so? Then, 
is there any wonder that so few profess to love Christ 
out of the vast majority of the world's teeming millions? 
Is it any wonder that so many revivals never come, though 
ministers labor to the border of death to bring about? 
Look at Paul's testimony, "We suffer all things," etc. 
God gives us all a good chance to testify to Him if we 
will. 

That dear, untiring laborer, Uncle John Vassar, was 
a man of this type. His habit was never to meet an 
individual without learning their spiritual condition al- 
most immediately. During the war he was captured by 
the Southern troops. Questioned by the general, who 
suspected him as a spy, he said: "I am a colporteur of the 
American Tract Society, trying to save the souls of the 
dear boys that fall round me daily. General, do you 
love Jesus?" The general parried the question with, "I 
know that good old Tract Society, and have no fear of 
its emissaries." "But, my dear General, do you love 
Jesus?" An officer standing by said, "General, take the 
man's promise that he will not tell our whereabouts, and 
let him out, or we shall have a prayer-meeting from here 
to Richmond." When Uncle John went to call on the 
President of the United States, he paid the respects due 
to his office, but did not let go of his hand until he had 
spoken to him of the Lord Jesus, and put to him, most 
courteously, the question that was ever on his lips. In- 
troduced to Brigham Young, in his Salt Lake City home, 



164 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

he made the same appeal, and pressed the same search- 
ing inquiry on his soul. It mattered not if a man were 
rich or poor. It was his soul John Vassar loved. Once, 
seeing a young man chopping wood, he stepped up to 
the fence, and opened a conversation. Soon they were 
both on their knees, one on one side of the fence and 
the other on the other. The result was the young man's 
conversion. A Negro in the army once said of him, "I 
just tell you what I think of Uncle John ; he is a real 
Christianity.' , 

May God grant the Church may have more repre- 
sentatives of real Christianity! 



XVI. 

THOUGHTS ON THE THIEF'S CONVERSION. 

"And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, 
To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." (L,uke 
xxiii, 43.) 

'T'HIS is one of the most precious stories of all the 
* New Testament. (Luke xxiii, 42, 43.) And it 
shows us very forcibly how one can differ from all 
about him for good. There the three crosses stand. On 
one is the Son of God, and the other two hold the 
thieves. The thieves are divided by the cross of 
Christ. The cross divides the world to-day, as then. 
But how singular that, with the same chance, one man 
will oppose God, while the other will accept His offer 
and defend His cause ! 

It is exceedingly sad to see the one thief to the 
last minute of his life fighting against good. But our 
thought is not directed to him to-night. We feel more 
concerned with the one that did the right thing, and 
turned to God, just as we should all do, and, I pray, 
may before we go out of this house. One thing meets 
us at the very threshold of this narrative that is most 
gracious; and that is, God is ever on hand where the 
soul is ready to surrender. No one ever cried long to 
God for deliverance, when they really meant it, without 
finding God at hand to help and save. Praise His name ! 
Now, for our instruction, I ask your attention to this 
165 



1 66 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

lesson as illustrating some aspects of salvation. So let 
us note, first: 

i. god's mercy in salvation. 

This poor fellow was one of the wickedest of men, 
and yet he had a chance and took it. God saved him, 
even though he was so bad. Now, some people hate 
thieves especially, and, perhaps, rightly; but when we 
consider God's demands and rights, we have all been 
thieves. At any rate, God says we have robbed Him. 
But this was a thief among men, robbed his fellows, and 
was shut up for safe-keeping. Yet God saved him and 
pardoned him. 

Not only that he had nothing to give God; no, not 
anything; not even a few hours' service. He had ab- 
solutely, like the prodigal, lost all, and was destitute 
of good and time and life in a few moments. Yet God 
did not turn him away. Can any of us say we have no 
hope of salvation because we have nothing to give God ? 
He had nothing, and was saved. Glory! 

But he, too, had, with his fellow-thief, railed on his 
Divine Master. He had added insult to sin, and it 
seemed that with his last breath he 'd injure his Divine 
Friend; but something in the voice, words, or looks, or 
spirit of the blessed Christ touched his heart, and he took 
the place of the penitent, and began to pray. O, the 
matchless love of the blessed Lord! Can any one de- 
spair? 

II. GOD'S MIGHT IN SALVATION. 

You notice, the poor fellow had to be saved then 
and there, if ever. And no one and nothing could have 
any hand in helping him. If God was not able to save him 



Thoughts on the Thief's Conversion. 167 

there and then, without the aid of other men or means, 
the poor man had to be lost. His end was rapidly draw- 
ing nigh, and what was done had to be done at once. 
Shall God fail or ask the performance of something that 
is beyond the means of a dying thief already transfixed 
to the murderous cross? Shall he hope or call in vain? 
No, never did man that called with all his heart. God 
there and then saved him by the power of an endless 
life. There and then he was pardoned for all the 
crimes that he had committed, and for which he found 
no pardon with men. God did not demand anything 
or enjoin anything, only an honest desire to be right 
and be remembered in the eternal kingdom. God saved 
him without water, altar, preacher or priest, strait-coat, 
a hired pew, or anything else. He just saved him by 
His own power, and he was safe forever. Changed in 
one minute. But, say some, Can a man be changed so 
soon? Do not men have to change themselves? How 
long, my friends, does it take a man to change his mind 
from committing some daring crime? The murderer, 
entering the house and behind the curtain, heard "Home, 
Sweet Home," and came out, confessed his intended 
crime, and went away a changed man. We change in a 
minute; that is, we can. So can God convert a man 
as soon as the man changes his mind. Glory! 

III. GOD'S METHOD IN SALVATION. 

We see there is a definite condition to be met before 
God can save, or all would be saved. If it were not so, 
God himself were responsible for all who are not saved. 
The condition is marked and most important. It is so 
important that God can not save any one till it is com- 
plied with. And while it is so important, even a dying 



1 68 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

thief can comply and render to God all that makes it 
right and proper for God to save; and that is, an honest 
desire and strict confession. The thief confessed Christ 
as the Son of God, and confessed himself as the thief 
and worthy of punishment. He simply owned up, and 
that is all there is to it. How simple! How fair! All 
can render it that have a heart right or wish to get 
right. And this is the hardest thing for some to do. 
Not that they can not, but won't. Now, if I have made 
this too strong on any line, I can not see it yet. It is 
not the can'ts, but the won'ts, that keep us out of the 
eternal kingdom. As long as the blessed old Bible 
stands, with this most blessed story of the salvation of 
the dying thief, no one can ever say they can not com- 
ply with all God's requirements. The thief saw the 
real Christ, saw his sins, saw his opportunity, seized it, 
and was saved. O how grand ! 

iv. god's motive: in salvation. 

Nowhere do man's opinions differ more from God's 
than in the reason God saves men. Some say, because 
of the torment of hell. There is a hell. And when men 
are saved, they are saved from hell and all its horrors ; 
but that is not the reason God saves men. Some say, 
that men may have a home in heaven. Grand as that is, 
I think it falls far short of the real cause of salvation. 
And 'mid all these opinions we come to the text, and 
find in it the words of Jesus, where He told the thief 
they should be together in paradise that day. Com- 
panionship with God is the idea of salvation. Praise 
God it is so! No mere insurance policy to screen from 
the flames of the pit. Neither is it a deed to a better 
place in glory, appealing to a mere selfish passion for 



Thoughts on the Thief's Conversion. 169 

the pleasant and profitable, but to be a companion and 
fellow wkh Jesus in the glory world. Jesus speaks 
much of being with His disciples, of never leaving nor 
forsaking them ; and again, when leaving this world, 
He says, "Where I am, there shall ye be also." Fel- 
lowship with Christ is the Divine idea, whether in life, 
death, or eternity. If men surrender to God here and now, 
He will go through life with them, will sweeten all 
their bitter cups, lighten their heavy loads, make 
straight their crooked ways, and gladden their saddened 
hearts. He will inspire them in the fight of life; He 
will console them in the hours and agony of death, and 
will go with them into the eternal world right up to 
the throne of the Judge of all the universe. 

" O what a Friend we have in Jesus — 
All our sins and grief to bear," 

and our sorrows to share, all our miles to travel with 
us, all our work to aid us in! Now, the thief had lost 
all the comfort and consolation of Christ in life, but 
Jesus said he should be with Him in the glory world. 
Praise His name! 

v. god's majesty in salvation. 

That God saved this man and gave him the assur- 
ance of companionship with Jesus, sometimes leads us 
to irreverent views of God and His majesty. We seem 
to think that all there was in this case was mercy — 
pure, unmixed mercy — and that mercy is a sort of care- 
less indifference to sins committed. But, friends, mercy 
always means justice. Always. For where there is no 
justice, there can be no mercy. Mercy is the exact 
measure of the justice in the mind of the law enforcing 



170 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

penalty, and that is set aside by mercy. That this man's 
salvation was all of mercy, no one, I think, will ques- 
tion; but that justice was in it, I think, is equally plain, 
if we think about it for a moment. 

God sits in each individual case that comes before 
Him for salvation. He knows all the past, as well as 
the present. He remembers what we have forgotten. 
He knows what has made us what we are. He 
knows how much real sin we have committed. He 
means to give all a chance; and when the thief cried 
for mercy, God knew whether he had ever, had an op- 
portunity to be saved before the day of his death or 
not. God knew all about his unhappy life, the things 
that had hindered him from being a man in years past. 
God knew if he had gone through life without a knowl- 
edge of the gospel. O yes, God knows all about it, 
and saw he was still on mercy's side of the judgment- 
bar. So the first call he made brought salvation. 

When we call, God will know all about us. He 
knows where we were reared ; and when we come down 
to the end — do n't be afraid ! — we will have justice ad- 
ministered. But can we be saved at the end if we have 
justice ? How many times have we refused the gospel ! 
How many times has Jesus called us to His side, and we 
refused to go to Him! He asked for our company; 
He asked for our heart and hand — and have we not 
said, No? Can God, on a death-bed, do with us in 
justice as He did with the poor thief that had never 
heard the story of the Savior's love ? O friends ! God 
is good and merciful ; but we are not ignorant, as the 
dying thief was, and if we hope for mercy, will we not 
just to-night call on God for salvation, and never stop 
till we get the assurance of pardon? If we ask, God 



Thoughts on the Thief's Conversion. 171 

will forgive, and will whisper in our inner ear, Thou 
shalt be with me in paradise. Friends, is not that 
worth all the world besides? 

The cross is now dividing the world as on that dark, 
sad day, when the Son of God died for the sins of a 
lost world. On which side will you be? Will it be 
with the thief who confessed, and asked pardon, and 
found it, or will you be on the side of the one who, 
knowing he had done wrong, railed on Jesus, and ended 
his sad, sinful life in opposition to the only One that 
could save him from an eternal death? 

Friends, I implore, I entreat you, do not despise 
your Savior to-night. He will be with you all along 
life's wearisome way, and at last give you a home in 
the realm of bliss, where the wicked cease from troub- 
ling and the weary are at rest. 



XVII. 
INTELLIGENT GOODNESS 

BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS, DELIVERED AT WHITTIER COLLEGE, 
WHITTIER, CALIFORNIA, TO THE CLASS OF '98, JUNE 5TH. 

"Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and 
he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man re- 
membered that same poor man." (Eccl. ix, 15.) 

AS a preacher I have chosen a text, and not an- 
■^ nounced merely a subject. And while my object 
is to address the class, I shall endeavor to not lose 
sight of the congregation. And as time is the stuff 
life is made of, I shall not trifle with yours, but aim at 
being as practicable as possible. And as even a sermon 
is sometimes tedious, I shall endeavor to be brief, re- 
membering a remark of a sister of mine, who, being 
asked how she enjoyed the pastor's sermons, when as 
yet she had but little interest in religion, answered that, 
"There is always one thing in them that I enjoy ;" and, 
being pressed to tell what it was, replied, " 'In conclu- 
sion, brethren/ " So I shall try not to belate that one 
interesting item of my discourse, but close duly. 

The wisdom of the text suggests efficiency as op- 
posed to quackery. It is a word oft recurring in the 
writings of Solomon, blending the idea of goodness 
and sense. That sort of thing that will prompt a 
farmer to carry corn to the mill in both ends of the 
sack, instead of corn in one end and a stone in the other, 
even if his neighbors do call it an innovation, while 

172 



Intelligent Goodness. 173 

quackery would be content to go through life with a 
stone in one end and corn in the other. A quack in 
medicine will make great pretensions to knowledge and 
an extensive practice; and, should he cut off the wrong 
leg, or prescribe the wrong drug, and death fol- 
low, he will contrive to keep it quiet, and say, "The 
man would have died anyhow." A quack lawyer will 
hang the wrong man with perfect calmness. The quack 
politician will vote for Andrew Jackson every election, 
and knows only the politics of years ago ; while the 
quack reverend will burn a cat for catching - a mouse 
on Sunday, turn a man out of meeting for wearing some 
new article of dress (as suspenders were a half century 
ago), will occupy his time preaching on the non-essen- 
tials of his creed, then go to the polls, and vote for 
license (high). But efficiency, the wisdom of the text, 
will seek the best, and perform it in the best way. 

The wisdom of the text seems to suggest the idea 
of mind to apprehend a thing. And that might rest 
under a dust-covered hat, or be sheltered in a thatched 
roof, or possessed by a person of unsightly form. Once, 
when Sir Walter Scott was taking a meal in a restaurant, 
he was pointed out to some one as the great author, 
who remarked, "What, that little fellow !" and the poet, 
hearing it, replied : 

"Were I so tall to reach the pole, 
And in my hand the ocean span, 
I must be measured by my soul — 

The mind 's the standard of the man." 

So it is true to-day, and ever shall be, that a mind 
to comprehend a thing is one of the essentials of all 
goodness ; hence our schools and text-books. 

Another element in the wisdom of the text is pur- 



174 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

pose. It has something to do, and does it. A tramp 
arraigned before a police court was asked what was 
his occupation. He answered, "I am a builder." The 
judge, eyeing him from head to foot, to behold, to see 
nothing but rags and dirt, retorted: "A builder! Pray, 
tell the court what you build." The tramp replied, 
"Air-castles, your honor!" He was sent up for thirty 
days, as many more might be who have no more sub- 
stantial work than his. A lazy man that sits around 
waiting for something easy to turn up always turns 
up in jail or in the asylum. A lazy man is of no earthly 
use, no more than a dead man, and he takes up a great 
deal more room. Wisdom has a purpose in life. 

Another element of this wisdom, allow me to re- 
mark, is skill in execution. It is at home in some 
one line of work. In this busy age, to be without 
some one thing we can do, and do well, seems to be 
especially sad. The man knew how to deliver the city. 
And just how to get into the place we can best fill, and 
to get at the work we can best do, is often a grave 
query; and lack of thought here often links a life to 
an unsuited calling for its entire length. And it is no 
wonder, when we consider how lightly this is often 
regarded, and the careless manner in which it is so 
often settled. A Scotchman had a little boy of several 
summers he was anxious to settle in the right calling 
early in life. So he took an apple, a book, and a piece 
of money, and put them in a room; then got the 
little fellow, and put him in near them, at the same 
time saying, "If he takes the apple, I shall make a 
farmer out of him; if he takes the money, he shall be 
a merchant ; but if he takes the book, he must be a 
preacher. Leaving the little fellow to himself for 



Intelligent Goodness. 175 

awhile, then returning, he found him sitting on the 
book, with the money in his pocket, and the apple 
nearly half eaten, to which the father said, "Ah, sonny, 
it is plain enough; you must be a lawyer." A mother 
who had three sons, of which she was justly very proud, 
was telling a visitor one day how she was meaning to 
allot their calling in life. She said : "Now, there is 
James, that bright-eyed, curly-headed boy with the rosy 
cheeks and high forehead. He is so bright, I shall make 
an effort to get him into business. He is very capable. 
And his brother with the red hair and the big nose, 
who is all the time smiling, I am going to get him into 
politics. He makes friends of every one, and will get 
along anywhere. And then you see that little fellow, 
small for his years, sitting behind the stove, Willie by 
name? Well, he is the quietest boy in all the world; 
has n't much ambition. He do n't seem to care for any- 
thing, and takes but little interest in any kind of work. 
Well, I am going to make a preacher of him ; for he is 
good for nothing practical." And so it goes. Parents 
choose, necessity seems to drive, or w T hims decide, re- 
gardless of fitness, the places of so many. Hence so 
many failures in life. There is a work for every one, and 
to find it and master it is part of wisdom. 

We have viewed the meaning of the term wisdom. 
Now let us come a little closer to the subject of the 
text, Intelligent Goodness; and then we will note: 

I. INTELLIGENT GOODNESS IS THE HANDMAID OF 
PROGRESS. 

Because it is practical. It is engaged in something 
or other, and that calling is the pledge of its success. 
It does not sit in idle reverie, and wish for the gold of 



176 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

the mine ; but it goes into the earth and gets it out. It 
does not behold with idle wonder the power of the 
chained lightning crossing the vaulted sky, and con- 
tent to wish it captured for use; but it runs up its 
kite, and brings down the potent fire, subduing it to 
wear harness for the service of men. It stands not in 
vacant thought beholding the power of steam that can 
lift a teapot lid, but solves the problem of using it to 
drive an engine and turn a wheel. It believes in work, 
and has work to do, and does it; and as the wind fills 
the spread sails, and the steam turns the adjusted 
wheel, so intelligent goodness is favored with oppor- 
tunities unknown to the purposeless. 

The drone lies around the hive, consuming the al- 
ready gathered honey, complaining that flowers do not 
bloom as they once did. The cur lies on the porch 
rug, lazily, in the sun, fretting that dogs are not ap- 
preciated nowadays since game has all been caught, 
while the setter has work for every day in the woods 
and the lake. The cockle-bur mule declares that 
no one cares to ride nowadays and all the coaches are 
standing idle, while the roadster is on the road and in 
the park with a carriage full daily. 

Just so it is with the unwise in the useful arts and 
trades, or callings, of life. The man that declares that 
there is nothing now to do, and that all the trades are 
full, forgets that the millions need clothes, food, houses, 
comforts, and luxuries the same as ever; and while 
changes have occurred, and still occur, that alter the 
aspect of things commercial and mechanical, yet, as 
long as children grow, seasons change, and time lasts, 
there will be room for every honest workman. So let 
no one of us fret about our lot in the world, or idly sit 



Intelligent Goodness. 177 

for something to turn up, complaining that in these 
days there are no rails to split, as in the days of Lin- 
coln; or that no longer can men get jobs on canals, as 
did Garfield; or even study with pine torches, as did 
General Clinton B. Fisk ; or saw wood in cellars, as did 
many other men in the early days of abundant timber 
and wood-fires. No, intelligent goodness will have 
something to do — pounding the anvil or the last, driv- 
ing the ship or the train, weaving at the loom, or writ- 
ing at the desk — for in all these and a thousand other 
useful callings, you can serve the age you live in, and 
be a blessing to men. Madam de Stael, who filled all 
Europe with her fame as a lecturer and writer in the 
last century, was one day busy with her papers and 
musical instruments, when a man came in and saw the 
multiplied things about her, and asked if she could 
perform on all these instruments. She answered : "O 
yes. But that is nothing, most any one could do that; 
but the thing I am proud of is that I have sixteen 
trades, any of which I could make a living at if I 
wished to." If she had fifteen less, she could get 
along, but the person without one useful thing he 
can do is certainly an object of pity and of little use 
in this world that asks every man to be of some serv- 
ice. There are three professions that offer a wide field 
for the industrious, which shall ever exist, and in which 
there is ever room — law, ministry, and medicine. 
These three have to do with the sins of the race very 
largely, and so shall ever be in vogue. There shall 
ever be fusses for lawyers to settle, diseases for doctors 
to treat, and the multiplied sins of the world calling 
for ministers to combat; and it would take almost a 
genius to fail in either of these professions if he has 



178 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

a mind to work. And as all three are now open to 
women as well as men, no soul need repine for an op- 
portunity to serve the race in a useful manner. 

Intelligent goodness will do something well. This 
is where the distinction lies, more than in the line of 
work chosen. To do something well is the secret of 
success of most every victor in the race of life. When 
Daniel Webster was starting for Boston, to engage in 
the practice of law. some one gravely informed him 
that the legal profession was crowded already, to which 
young Webster replied, "There is plenty of room at 
the top." The first case he got was in a railroad liti- 
gation. He grappled with the subject, and studied six 
months, and received only a few dollars ; but he had 
the knowledge, and a little later he had an opportunity 
to use that same knowledge for another road, and won 
the suit, receiving five hundred dollars for his services. 
Garfield, when in school, could not take a full college 
course owing to his lack of money; and among the studies 
omitted was chemistry. He entered law as a profes- 
sion, and almost the first case he had involved the 
knowledge of chemistry. He bought some text-books 
on that subject and went to work to master the science ; 
and by the time his case was ready for trial he was 
one of the best chemists in the Union. He went into 
law to succeed, and whatever that involved he grappled 
with and mastered. Franklin Fairbanks, the Standard 
Scale man, learned the ins and outs of his business till 
he could take the place of any man in his vast shops, 
except the blacksmiths. So could Orange Judd, the 
great farm-implement man. William H. Webb, of the 
Webb Shipyards, of New York, was the son of a man 
who had made success in the ship-building line, and he 



Intelligent Goodness. 179 

wanted his son to learn an easier way of making a liv- 
ing; but young William wanted to learn the trade of 
his father. So he entered the shop, and began at the 
bottom, rising from one branch to another till he had 
mastered the whole science of building ships. He got 
control of the yard; and when he had one hundred and 
fifty ships, all of his own designing, sailing the high 
seas, there was not a man in his yards that could handle 
tools more efficiently than he could. The best black- 
smith is not the man that succeeds at the anvil, then 
goes into the grocery business or some other form of 
commercial life; but the best blacksmith, and the one 
the world is waiting for, is the man that can shoe any 
horse, and do it right, and, when he can no longer do 
the work himself, teach others how to do it as well. 
The best doctor is not the one that rises in his profes- 
sion into prominence, till he attracts attention, then 
goes into politics, and runs for Congress, to practice 
medicine no more. No, the best doctor is the man or 
woman that will solve the great problems of disease 
and remedy, and use his great art to alleviate the suffer- 
ings of humanity. The greatest preacher is not the 
one that will master books, then quit the pulpit for 
the professor's chair,, or any other chair, but will en- 
deavor to present God's great, ever-living truth in a 
way to appeal to the sense and heart of the world of 
sinners lost. "Shoemaker, stick to your last," is a senti- 
ment that applies well to any line of calling if you are 
good in it. 

Intelligent goodness does something honorably. 
There is a false sentiment crept into the world some time 
since Adam left Eden (it must have been since, for Adam 
was a workingman and dressed the garden), that it is 



180 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

not nice to work for a living. Girls are ashamed of the 
blue apron of the kitchen when her best fellow comes 
around, and usually he is ashamed of her biscuits after 
the question has been settled. People of the sort who 
are ashamed of work, keep boarders just for company, 
keep shop to study character, work on the farm for 
their health, or do some other sort of work from some 
other sort of motive other than the truth that they are 
common folks, and need to work, as God meant all to 
do. When civilization will have civilized the world 
above such false pride, and makes it a disgrace for any 
sound person to be without an honest calling, by which 
they could make their own living, a long step will have 
been taken to close the almshouses, hospitals, asylums, 
and jails, and will lengthen out lives to an extent be- 
yond the fondest hopes of the most enthusiastic life- 
insurance agent. When the silly, filthy Oscar Wilde 
was in this country, flourishing a sunflower on his breast, 
he met, one evening, the mayor of Philadelphia at a 
banquet. Little Oscar began to complain of the diffi- 
culty of getting good gloves in this country, and 
showed his well-gloved hand. The mayor of that large 
city simply said, "I know nothing about your griev- 
ances, as those hands [raising one of his hands into 
view] never wore a pair of kids." Governor Briggs, 
of Massachusetts, never wore a collar, in order to help 
some one else to leave a more harmful indulgence. 
God give you and me a purpose in life, that will for- 
ever spoil us for anything like false shame as to the 
work in life best suited to us! And if we farm the soil, 
pound the iron on the anvil, weave cloth in the mill, 
or drive the engine on land, or ship on the sea, we will 
do it with a spirit of true conquest, rejoice in our call- 
ing, and endeavor to do our work well. 



Intelligent Goodness. 181 

II. INTELLIGENT GOODNESS IS THE CHILD OE INDUSTRY. 

Where did this poor man get his wisdom, by which 
he delivered the city? A man may be born with talent, 
but not with wisdom. Wisdom comes by the exercise 
of genius. And genius, more often than anything else, 
is only another name for a capacity for work. Most 
every one — and I take it for granted you each have an 
ideal in life that you hope to attain, — and if I could 
but see the thing as it comes to you in your best mo- 
ments, when you apprehend it the most clearly, it involves 
these three things : Self-conquest, perseverance to success, 
and promotion; all of which imply toil. 

i. Self-conquest. Shakespeare says, "Some are 
born great;" but I find in reading the history of suc- 
cessful men and women, those born great are simply 
born great workers. And in no field of effort is the 
task more arduous than in self-conquest ; and no man 
ever takes a greater city than the dimensions of his 
own soul. We are too often afflicted with an indispo- 
sition to hard work. We do not like to work, and 
this is one of the elements we must school out of our 
very being. Indolence, that finds expression in lying 
in bed late of mornings, reclining long after dinners, 
and working none after suppers, must be overcome if 
we would win success. 

"The heights by great men reached and kept 
Were not attained by sudden flight; 
But they, while their companions slept, 
Were toiling upwards in the night." 

This holds good in all lines of life. If we 'd win, 
we must work. And your worth in any craft or pro- 
fession is about the exact measure of your self-con- 
quest. To be the victim of appetites, passions, or per- 



1 82 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

nicious habits of sloth; to allow yourselves to drift into 
a sort of a careless, lazy, ease-loving life, either before 
you win success or afterward, will be the hand that 
sooner or later will ring the death-knell of your fond- 
est hopes. 

2. Perseverance is another element you feel must 
enter into your life, in order to realize your fond 
dreams of success — a sort of "stick-to-it-iveness." The 
first visit does not win the girl; the first blow does not 
complete the shoe; the first stroke of the brush does 
not finish the picture; but a repetition of one after an- 
other is ever necessary, which means perseverance. The 
ancients portrayed Success standing on a pedestal, with 
her feet stuck fast in pitch, and to-day we have no bet- 
ter conception or illustration. Steadfastness of purpose, 
that will not waver in the dark day of discouragement 
and trial; a purpose to stand by the task in hand till 
it is accomplished, is ever the secret of achievement. 
Just here some very brilliant people fail. Often we are 
tempted to comparisons with others that seem to go 
faster than we do, and as often unjustly underestimate 
our abilities to measure arms with them ; and, growing 
disheartened, the race is given up, and failure is the 
record we make. Suppose we run on the track with 
some one that can make a little better time than we 
can. If we keep on running, we will get there just the 
same. The plug may be passed by the swifter runner 
in a ten-mile race, but if the plug keeps plugging away, 
he will as surely get there by and by, and may be in 
better shape than the racer. Many of the great 
seemed to be dull and slow to master their tasks, but 
they had on hand a purpose that sustained them; and 
the illustrious who were once regarded as fools, be- 



Intelligent Goodness. 183 

cause they were of the slow pace, would make a very 
respectable catalogue of worthies that shine in the 
galaxy of the world's great men and women. Notable 
among them were Grant, Wellington, and Napoleon. 

Have a purpose on hand that is great enough to 
command respect and compel effort. Shut your ears 
to all the voices that would call you from your task; 
persevere, and the end can not be doubtful. Classic 
mythology gives us an illustration suited to this thought 
that will enforce it. We are told that when Ulysses, 
after the destruction of Troy, was making some of his 
extensive trips on sea, he was sailing along the west 
coast of Italy, near the musical but dread islands of 
the Sirens, the demi-gods of sweet song. The story 
says the Sirens sang so sweetly that those passing near 
the shore, in the mad endeavors to reach the singers, 
would abandon the ship and plunge themselves into 
the waves, to either find a watery grave or to perish 
after reaching the shore. So Ulysses stopped the ears 
of his sailors with wax, that they might not hear; and, 
making himself fast to the masts with ropes, he sailed 
by the fatal shores. The music was unheard by the 
sailors, and self-imposed restraints, that he vainly tried 
to break, took them by the singers in safety. But Jason, 
in his Argonautic expeditions, passing the same way, 
took on board with him the famed Orpheus, at the 
strains of whose music, we are told, even the trees 
of the woods would bow in admiration. So, sailing 
along near the Siren shore, the sweet music came float- 
ing over the waves the same as ever, but it fell on list- 
less ears ; for they had better music on board, furnished 
them by Orpheus. So we want on board of life's voy- 
age an Orpheus of purpose that will hold us fast when 



1 84 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

we might be tempted to abandon the chosen calling of 
life. I have a book on my library shelves, "How a 
Hundred Ministers Switched Off;" but I would not 
like to be compelled to read all the books that would 
record the history of those who have switched off from 
some useful trade or profession, in hours of weariness 
or weakness of purpose, as they passed the shores of 
some sweet-singing phantom of deception. 

3. Practical instinct is another thing I would note in 
passing. This is that trait of character that will avail 
itself of any advantage in any way that presents itself. 
It is a willingness to rise, as when Lincoln left the back- 
woods for the law-office, or Garfield left the towpath for 
the school-path. It will open the door of advancement, 
and ever work the best thing it is able. It shows the 
possessor that if a man can make watches, he need not 
plow; if he can plead at the bar, he need not push the 
plane at the bench. In fine, it will prompt him to do the 
best thing that he can do, and ever be ready to rise from 
good to better till the best is reached. 

It will use every hint and help within reach to com- 
pass success; and how small things offer great sugges- 
tions and advantage is seen in a review of the history of 
invention and discovery. Thales, of Miletus, twenty- 
five hundred years ago, in rubbing a piece of amber, 
saw that it would attract light substances. Galvani, two 
thousand years later, noticed that pieces of copper and 
zinc, placed near some frog legs that he had gotten 
for his table use, caused their muscles to contract, and 
the thought expanded till it went through all the differ- 
ent phases of electric apparatus up to the trolley car and 
electric engine. A soap-maker noticed that the sea- 
weeds he used in boiling his soap deposited a sediment 



Intelligent Goodness. 185 

in the pot, and iodine was the result of his attention. 
A spark fell in a mortar in a chemical laboratory, causing 
a miniature explosion, and suggested the idea of gun- 
powder. A thoughtful man, one morning out in the 
field, saw a strand of a spider's web, stretched by the 
cunning spider, and he caught the idea of the suspension 
bridge that now spans so many rivers. Watts saw the 
steam in the teapot raise the lid, and the steam engine 
and locomotive were the result. Newton saw an apple 
fall, while out in his father's orchard, and he followed up 
his thought till the law of attraction and gravitation be- 
came a fact of scientific record. Galileo saw a lamp 
swing in a church while at worship, and from it he got 
the idea of the pendulum to measure time. A farmer, 
snake-bitten, writhes in agony, while the dead rattle- 
snake lay near by. The doctor was busy administering 
remedies, but the man all the while grew worse. An 
innocent farmer neighbor, standing by, picked up the 
snake that had done the terrible deed, opened its mouth 
and examined its teeth, and found that they had a fine 
little hole in the end, through which the snake poured out 
the poison to kill its victim. The farmer stepped up to the 
doctor, and asked him why he did not administer a remedy 
for the poison through the skin as the snake had poisoned 
the man. The doctor laughed at his rustic simplicity 
in thinking of such a thing, yet to-day a doctor without 
his snake-tooth in the way of a hypodermic syringe, 
bottle of morphine and atropia in his pocket, would feel 
himself disgraced for all time. The doctor and the world 
might have had the advantage of the hypodermic syringe 
many years sooner if the doctor had a little more of this 
practical instinct that sees the advantage in little things. 
Again, this trait will demand the highest standard. 



186 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

Some noted person has said that to improve present 
methods is one of the sure ways of success. This prac- 
tical instinct will not sit down, content to use imperfect 
tools, or to follow imperfect ways of doing things, but 
will seek out the very best possible manner and ever 
make new ones. For while we owe reverence to the 
ages and the great that have gone before, to slavishly 
follow any one or any thing is to commit the sin of poor, 
moss-covered China, that, nationally, is rapidly becom- 
ing a byword for all that is slow and incompetent. Slavery 
to the past has left its impress for evil on many institu- 
tions and practices. The great Galen held back the 
medical profession for hundreds of years because men 
feared to dissent from. the teaching of one in his day so 
prominent and competent. Galen himself had to cope 
with the prejudice and hatred of the bigoted devotees 
of the past. He had been solicited to deliver a series of 
lectures in the imperial city on anatomy that subverted 
the learning, or lack of learning, of earlier masters and 
less-enlightened days, and he was compelled to leave the 
rostrum and flee the city to save his life. And when 
Vesalius, in the sixteenth century, laid the foundation of 
the splendid system of medicine now in vogue, by sweep- 
ing away the long-cherished dogmas of an unproved 
series of theories, he brought upon himself a perfect flood 
of virulent reproach from the most distinguished of his 
illustrious contemporaries. Theology has fared no bet- 
ter. The immortal John Calvin, with all his faults of 
severity of character, was one of the greatest men that 
has written in the interest of true religion. And yet, his 
very excellence hindered the Church for years. He did 
his work so well — so clearly and forcibly did he expand 
the doctrines of the Bible he held, that for hundreds of 



Intelligent Goodness. 187 

years no man was found that had courage to reconstruct 
his particular views of Divine truth. Intelligent Meth- 
odists say that John Wesley's death was as providential 
as his birth, for, had he not died, there would never have 
been a Methodist Church, he being contented and de- 
termined to remain in the fold of the old State Church. 
What shall I say about George Fox and other religious 
worthies, before whose imperfect, partial statements of 
truth the Church has bowed with slavish reverence, fear- 
ing to go to the Word of God for itself? And there are 
teachers of partial truth to-day for whom we are in danger 
of holding a sort of hero worship. Respect the hard- 
working man in any line of any age, but test all their 
work and service to humanity by that high standard that 
you find issuing a protest in your breasts against all the 
imperfections and limitations that you note in the craft 
or profession you have chosen for your life's work. The 
great inventors have not been more successful than those 
who follow in their wake and perfect the invention 
brought to their hand. Elias Howe, it is accorded, in- 
vented the sewing-machine; yet the Singer patents and 
improvements have outgrown the original Howe till to- 
day the Singer sings in a million homes. So do n't be 
afraid to dissent from the past, and ever be on the alert 
to improve the things of the present, and failure will be 
made more impossible. 
Note again: 

III. INTELLIGENT GOODNESS IS THE PARENT OF 
OPPORTUNITY. 

The ancients portrayed Opportunity as a goddess on 
a pedestal with a veiled face. You did not see her coun- 
tenance, and did not recognize her till she had passed. 



1S8 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

How true the conception to the fact of life and experi- 
ence! The trades, professions, and callings are ever de- 
manding new recruits to fill up their dissolving ranks, 
and the world always pays a premium on the competent. 
A young lad went into a cotton-mill in a town of an 
Eastern State, and, beginning at the very bottom, went 
through all the different parts of the manufacture of 
cotton cloth. He was a careful student and close ob- 
server of all the intricate parts of the different processes; 
and when he had learned any part, he had mastered it 
till he felt he knew all about it; and when he reached the 
top of the trade, there was no part that he was ignorant 
of, and he could take the place of any man in the factory, 
and do the work well. He finally became foreman, and 
the mill went on nicely. His first salary was $1,500 per 
annum. One of the large mills in Fall River was falling 
behind annually, and the corporation was losing money. 
They consulted a merchant in Boston that was familiar 
with all the ins and outs of the cotton manufacture, and 
inquired if he knew of any one that could take charge 
of the mill and make it pay. The merchant said, "Yes, 
I believe I know a young man that can do it; but you 
will have to pay him $6,000 a year." "O!" said the 
manufacturer, "that is more than we have ever paid for 
a manager!" "Well," said the merchant, "and the re- 
sults show the failure. I think you can get the young 
man for $6,000, and I will not advise him to accept for 
any less." The bargain was made, and the first year he 
saved them forty per cent of the cost of making cloth, 
and gave them a clear gain. Another larger mill came 
and offered him $10,000 a year for five years if he would 
run their mill. He accepted, and, after being there one 
year, another great milling establishment offered him 



Intelligent Goodness. 189 

$15,000 a year; but he refused, saying he would not 
leave and break his engagement for even $5,000 a year 
more salary. You see, he had character as well as skill. 

A person may, and individuals often have, failed in 
certain lines of work, even when they seemed to have 
fitted themselves for it by long years of apprenticeship 
and study. A young lady, of whom the lecturer DeMott 
speaks, had thoroughly educated herself for the pro- 
fession of a teacher. She was still in the normal when 
a request came for a competent teacher to take charge 
of a considerable department in a school of good stand- 
ing. The principal of the normal school so highly recom- 
mended her that she was taken, on his recommendation, 
without even a trial trip. She was a good scholar, a dili- 
gent student, and for two years she worked hard to make 
her teaching a success, but, at every point, failure stared 
her in the face. She confessed her failure. They tried 
to encourage her, but she insisted she was no good as 
a teacher. She asked permission to rest for a term. It 
was granted; and while she was resting in a small town, 
studying what she w r ould do, one of the bookkeepers in 
a lumber-office quit, and left the place, and she was asked 
to take the place as assistant bookkeeper for awhile dur- 
ing her vacation. She accepted, and soon found she was 
in her element. She became very efficient, and manifested 
a marked capacity for business. The head bookkeeper 
sickened and died, and she was promoted to that im- 
portant place and a very good salary. She soon became 
indispensable to the welfare of the firm, and erelong she 
formed a matrimonial partnership with its principal, and 
is still doing well. 

If one is efficient, their service will be sought; and 
if failure ensues in any one line attempted, their very 



I go Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

efficiency will find an open door in some more congenial 
and better-suited occupation. The world is full of bun- 
glers who hope for success more from fickle luck than 
certain pluck, resulting, so often, in failure on their part; 
yet abundant open doors remain for those who have 
learned to work and wait. 

This truth is so patent that, with this passing word, 
I shall proceed to my last thought; namely, 

IV. INTELLIGENT GOODNESS THE PENSIONER OF 
HEAVEN. 

A man or woman that will never do anything unless 
they are appreciated or well paid will often present them- 
selves as a sad picture indeed, for not a few of the world's 
worthies have lived much of their lives unappreciated, 
and some have even had to die before their worth was 
realized. So that a man needs look higher than earth 
for a certain appreciation and reward. It would be sad 
indeed to note the reasons why so many are not ap- 
preciated, if this life and world were all. But when we 
can look above, with a feeling that there is one Eye that 
sees, and one Hand that will reward, it unnerves us for 
life's contest, and makes any calling the more attractive 
and noble. Allow me to note a few reasons why the 
world sometimes fails to award merit where merit is due: 

i. If you are honored to do a grand work, you shall 
very likely live on through life, pressing a lonely path, 
but to be lamented and canonized when dead. Was the 
inventor of window-glass honored and rewarded? Who 
can tell? for even his name has not come down to us. 
Who devised the arch for buildings, or chimneys for 
houses? Their names have perished. Who invented the 
blacksmith's forge, the weaver's shuttle, without which 



Intelligent Goodness. 191 

our clothes to-day would be very different? Who made 
the first plow to till the soil? His memory has faded 
from the mind of men. Who invented the mariners's com- 
pass, keels for ships, and geometry, is not a matter of 
historic record. Who invented the alphabet that makes 
printing a possibility? Who constructed the first lyre, 
that has, down the ages, cheered so many with its sweet 
strains? No one can tell. The name of the farmer that 
saw first in the snake's tooth the method of the hypo- 
dermic syringe, and the name of the lad that gave the 
Savior the loaves and fishes in order to feed the multi- 
tude, have alike failed to come down to us. But in that 
great day when all the deeds of men shall be weighed 
in a true balance, these all, who served the race with a 
pure motive, will be honored and rewarded. This con- 
solation we all need who would feel brave amid the ob- 
scurity. 

2. Again, you may live ahead of your time, and be 
compelled to take all your comfort and reward from a 
Christian's hope, if comfort or reward is to be certain. 

Poor Columbus discovered a continent, and lan- 
guished, in poverty, in a comfortless prison. But he took 
the continent in the name of his God, and heaven's re- 
ward would be certain had the tardy world never come 
to honor him in chiseled monument and printed page. 
The world's greatest benefactors have been unfortunate 
in living so far ahead of their time, that suspicion, op- 
position, and even persecution were their sole compensa- 
tion through years fraught with hard toil and sore tem- 
poral trial. Howe, the inventor of the sewing-machine, 
saw his wife languish and die without being able to give 
her the sustenance that her impaired health demanded. 
Robert Fulton and his projected steamboat were the 



192 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

laughing-stock of the scientific world till, at last, it was 
launched, and success was accorded. George Stephen- 
son, the inventor of the railroad locomotive, was harassed 
and abused and opposed in private and public, in the Par- 
liament and on the street, just because he was ahead of 
his time. Professor Morse, the father of the electric tele- 
graph, fared no better from the citizens of America and 
from the Congress of the United States. 

3. Finally, should you be called to lead in reforms, 
the world may treat you coldly, if not cruelly. Remem- 
ber, dear one, that while honor surely awaits the faithful 
servant of the race here or hereafter, we are living and 
laboring in a world that banished Aristides, the just, 
murdered Caesar, compelled Seneca to suicide, poisoned 
Socrates, beheaded the apostle Paul, and crucified the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and foolish indeed is the man that 
depends on this world only for his reward. So, my young 
friends, allow me to counsel you to not expect too much 
from this world, or to make it your all, lest disappoint- 
ment may greet you here, and certain loss in the world 
above. But go to your life's work with a will and 
purpose to do your best, and win success; avail your- 
selves of all honorable means of self-help and advance- 
ment; master your calling, and in whatever craft, pro- 
fession, or calling your lot is cast, trust in God, aim at 
high perfection, and happy usefulness will reward you 
here, and eternal bliss will crown you up there. 

John Ruskin, in closing a lecture on art before a 
large, cultured audience in London, said, to conclude, 
he would mention but one name, and pronounced the 
name of Michael Angelo. So, to-night, in closing this 
talk on the value and aims of life, I will close by offering 
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though rich, 



Intelligent Goodness. 193 

for our sakes became poor, that we, through His pov- 
erty, might become rich. He sacrificed every personal 
interest to accomplish his purpose; He gave Himself, with- 
out reserve, to the welfare of the race He, by humility, had 
become a part of; He confronted the prejudice and op- 
position of the masses who misunderstood and hated Him; 
He assailed all the foes of the interests of the better man, 
and, though conscious of the inevitable end awaiting 
Him, he never swerved from the path of duty till He 
hanged, as a condemned man, between two thieves, on 
the Roman cross. Now, if you will take Him as your 
example of consecration and devotion to the worthy ob- 
ject of life you shall espouse, allow me to suggest to you 

a motto: 

"Perish trickery and cunning; 
Perish all that fears the light; 
Whether winning, whether losing, 
Trust in God, and do the right. 

Some will love you, some will hate you ; 

Some will flatter, some will slight; 
Cease from man, and look above you, — 

Trust in God, and do the right." 
13 



XVIII. 
DAVID'S SPIRIT OF LOYALTY. 

'Thou shalt not build a house for My name, because 
thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood." 
(i Chron. xxviii, 3.) 

HTHE character of David is many-sided. He was a 
* fierce warrior, a great poet, a worthy historian, a 
great sinner, and a notable saint. After saying all this, 
there is yet something more to say with regard to his 
manifested character, and that is seen in his loyalty to 
the powers and appointments that be. 

David was one of the most noted of all Old Testa- 
ment heroes. Called from an humble shepherd boy to 
be a hero in one of the most important encounters, he 
manifested no pride; called from the same humble pur- 
suit to be a king, he accepted the throne without vanity; 
was pursued by the cruel hand of Saul, yet would not 
put forth his hand to slay him when in his power; cursed 
by Shimei, yet allowed no one to injure him. With great 
courage and success in battle, he trusted in God alone 
for all; and with a fixed purpose to build the temple for 
the ark of God and worship, was supplanted by his own 
son, Solomon, without a murmur. This is the character 
we now come to contemplate. So let us note: 

I. HIS SPIRIT OF LOYALTY TO WORSHIP. 

He spoke to Nathan, the prophet, in 2 Sam. vii, 2, 
saying, "I dwell in a good house, and the ark of the 
Lord dwelleth in a tent." He was not satisfied to see 

194 



David's Spirit of Loyalty. 195 

the ark of God, or anything pertaining to the worship of 
God, faring poorly, nor could he, with good conscience, 
enjoy the rest and prosperity that was his, and the Lord's 
worship languish. What a grand loyalty is seen in this 
spirit! He might have said, "Well, I wish the Lord's 
ark was in a better place, but I have done so much al- 
ready for Israel, that I will leave that job for some one 
else." Not he. No, he wanted to see the ark in as good 
condition as it had been, and a thousand times better, if 
possible. 

This suggests the necessity of men being interested 
in the public worship of the Lord. We have come-outers 
in these days that say, "I can as well worship the Lord 
at home as at church." So you will find them advo- 
cating no Church, no ministry, and they themselves 
hasten on to no religion. David believed the public wor- 
ship of the Lord was necessary; so did Paul; and, for 
one, I have but little use for any one that does not. Of 
course a man can worship God at home, and if he does 
not worship God at home, he will not at meeting. But the 
man who wants to worship God at home to the neglect 
of the Church is a selfish soul, I care not who he may 
be. The world needs the Church, and so long as the 
world of sinners need instruction, the Church is a neces- 
sity. How much the world needs the Church can be 
seen, if we could, this morning, go where there is no 
Church, in the Dark Continent! And it can be seen from 
the fact that, just as soon as the Word of life is pro- 
claimed in any given territory, a church-foundation is 
the first thing that is laid. The Church is not religion, 
nor worship; but it is a tree of life from which fall the 
leaves for the healing of the nations. It is not the water 
of life, but it is the channel through which this precious 



196 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

commodity is borne to the regions beyond, and makes 
glad the city of God. 

The Church is a school of Divine instruction, and 
all converts are learners. How much the convert has 
to learn can be appreciated when we look into the past 
of our lives and see how many, how very many lessons 
we have learned in the house of God. And the same 
loyal spirit that David manifested in wanting to build 
a house for God's ark, will see well to it that the truth 
of God is taught, and not some advanced nonsense under 
the name of higher criticism, nor any other ism or isms. 
The spirit that will plan the perpetuity of the Church, 
will see that it keeps to the Bible. When men get care- 
less about one line, they will grow so about others. Now, 
much in these days is preached that is not the Scriptures. 
Men take their text from John, and preach from the 
writings of Hawthorne, Thackeray, George Eliot, and a 
whole array of others of no more importance, and as little 
inspired. If a man likes to read those sort of authors, and 
they are not devoid of some profit, let him leave them 
in the study, and take the Word of God into the pulpit. 
Men in the world get enough of business and science 
and literature and art; if they do not, they get all they 
can profit by; and when they come to Church they need 
something from the words of God that will instruct them 
in Divine things. As a minister, talking on the "Folly 
of Plain Dress" in the morning, and in the evening on 
"The Wilson Bill," and that, too, just before I went there 
to hold a revival-meeting. Science, literature and art, his- 
tory, romance, and poetry, may all do to point an arrow 
if we know how to use them, but the staple must be the 
eternal words of the ever-blessed God. This is one way 
the pew can help the pulpit. If the pew will run after the 



David's Spirit of Loyalty. 197 

novelties of the popular pulpit orator who deals in dreams, 
it is a temptation to a would-be good preacher to diverge 
a little. Ask the plain truth of the minister, and insist 
on getting it, and the cause of truth will grow. 

And, too, the man that wants the public worship of 
the Lord to prosper, can do a great deal in inviting people 
to meeting. The building is a sort of necessity in this 
climate so variable, but the building is not the Church. 
The Church is the beating hearts that look to God for 
His blessing. So a building, as good as it is, is not the 
all of the concern of the loyal spirit to-day; we must reach 
the masses if we would have a Church. I say the masses. 
Some are very select about those who they invite to 
Church. If a rich man comes to town, a committee waits 
upon him to ask him to worship with them. But let a 
poor family come to town, especially if the children are 
poorly clad, no committee calls; no card is left; no one 
seems to care. And yet, in that very home there may 
be seven or more children to be a blessing to the Church, 
when, in the house of wealth and luxury, possibly one, 
or none. We want the masses for the sake of the Church, 
for the sake of their souls, for the sake of the dying Re- 
deemer who bought them with His own blood. In this 
work the preacher can not do it all, and, indeed, he can 
not do the greater part; for, if he asks to meeting those 
who are poor and sinful, and, when they come, the 
Church gives them a cold shoulder, or shakes hands with 
them as though their fingers were sacks of sawdust, the 
preacher can plead in vain. But if the membership that 
sits with the masses in the pew will say, "Come and share 
my seat, use my hymn-book, get under my umbrella, 
ride in my carriage," then the Church will fill up. Spur- 
geon said his lay members filled his temple for him. O, 



198 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

what a host that loyal spirit would be if in the whole 
Church of God to-day! Would not this answer the two 
greatest questions before the Church to-day; namely, 
How can we reach the masses? and its twin sister, How 
can we win men from secret societies and clubs? Make 
the Church a happy social gathering, and the men of 
the world that ever have an eye to the good things of earth 
will eventually find a place among the children of God. 

But one more thing I wish to emphasize in this con- 
nection with regard to the spirit of loyalty in worship. 
It is a fact that no one can gainsay, that our standard 
of Christianity in these days seems to be short of the 
standard of the early days, and in no way more than in 
the purpose for which we meet together in meetings of 
worship. If one studies the testimonies given after a 
sermon, the thought will be found to be very common 
that we met together in the Church of God to be fed 
more than to worship. Feeding too often means noth- 
ing more than to hear some new thing about the words 
of God. Now, such are very impatient of the simple 
.truth that is so necessary for the young convert. I often 
meet those among the young people who say they never 
understand the sermons of their minister. I met a little 
girl who said she read her Bible through in the public 
meeting for worship on Sundays. I asked her why she 
did it. "O," said she, "I never understand what the 
preacher talks about, so that is the only way I can keep 
awake." Now that there is a tendency on the part of 
the carnal in worship to ask, yea, demand, that some 
great sermon be preached, or some new truth be enun- 
ciated each time that the meeting gathers, is patent to 
those who see and hear as they go through the world. 
Notice, I am not saying anything about the doctrine 



David's Spirit of Loyalty. 199 

preached. A man can preach the doctrine of holiness 
as simply as repentance or faith. And I have no sym- 
pathy with a certain sort of ministry who say that only 
those especially called to preach holiness should do it; 
for I believe God has called all ministry on that line, and 
a man that would ask to preach anything lower than 
holiness must have queer thoughts when he raises 
his voice in prayer to a holy heaven and a holy God. 
I believe in preaching holiness in every sermon in some 
of its bearings. But the tendency to have a doctrine put 
in some novel, essay form, in rounded periods of glitter- 
ing rhetoric, or they can not enjoy it, lacks the spirit of 
loyalty to the public worship, than which nothing can 
be more hurtful short of downright sin. Public worship 
has its laws and methods that the good, earnest man will 
be glad to observe. A simple parable expounded, a simple 
story to illustrate, told wisely, a simple sermon, on some 
plain subject, may do more good to the average hearer 
than the finest-threaded logic that was ever spun. 

II. THE SPIRIT OF LOYALTY TO LIFF/s WORK. 

David had done great, grand work, but that very 
work, as a warrior, unfit him for other callings. He had 
done good service in driving the enemies of God into 
a lifelong retreat. He had done good service in giving 
to the children of Israel rest from virulent foes; but when 
he came to do for the Lord and the nation what he found 
in his heart to do, God told him that he was unfit, as he 
had been a man of blood. Now mind, God did not say 
he had done wrong, but simply he was disqualified to 
build the temple, as he had been a man of battles, sug- 
gesting the idea that a work Divinely acknowledged may 
disqualify us for many things we could wish to do and 



200 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

be. And yet David never went back on the Providence 
that put him in the field to fight, nor railed because he 
was, for life, unfit for work he wished to perform. There 
is a wonderful lesson here for me, and I trust God will 
bless it to the good of all. 

Now some would say that David was disappointed 
by this proscription. But I think not. I think the best 
way to put it, he was Divinely controlled. He had done 
his service, in his own line, for the welfare of the nation, 
and without which they could not have had the safety 
to put up the temple; but the actual work of erecting 
this wonderful structure was reserved for one who knew 
nothing of the experience of the battle-field. Yet he saw 
he had done well, and his work was not to be condemned 
nor faulted because it hindered him from doing things 
he wished to accomplish. How sad to hear those that 
profess to believe in God's leading complain that their 
lives have been a failure or a mistake! For if God leads 
us, and we believe in His providences, let us not go 
back on it, and say that we might have been. Might 
have been will do for a Whittier's poem of Maud Muller, 
but it will not do for those who believe and trust in God's 
providences. 

For instance, many are called to work with their 
hands or their heads to make money for the spread of 
the gospel, so they are, in a great measure, cut off from 
the delight of standing in the pulpit and of talking the 
Word of life to men from the public desk. How many 
feel this keenly, I need not say. But that many do, I 
am quite sure. How many think that, after all, it is 
beneath them to work for a living in the furrow, or at 
the bench, or in the rolling-mill, or on a steamboat, or 
any other of the many crafts and callings that divide the 



David's Spirit of Loyalty. 201 

brawn and brain of the workingmen. They feel they are 
prevented from building the temple. But not so. You 
may not do the part that you find it in your heart to do, 
but you surely help as verily as David did by subduing 
the enemies of Israel. Now, I would not mention this 
only for the fact that there is room for much regret along 
this line on the part of the one who indulges the thought. 
But the man that can earn a dollar for the service of the 
Lord has no need to regret he can not be a minister or 
missionary. The two callings are indispensable. And 
while I have no doubt that there are men in the field or 
mill that should be in the pulpit, and I have as little 
doubt that there are men in the pulpit that should be 
in the furrow or the mill, yet, if we have been obeying 
God, and have been true to Him, let us not complain, 
but be true to the place we fill, and fill it to the best of 
our ability. For, after all, it is work, and not the kind 
of work, that is the sacred thing of life. Noah could not 
have been a Moses, and still have built the ark. Moses 
could not have been a Paul, and still lead Israel out of 
bondage. Paul could not have been an Abraham, and 
still be the apostle to the Gentiles. Just so in our lives, 
we can not be something if we are something else. But 
if God has called us, and guides us, and we have obeyed, 
rejoice and be glad, for our reward is the same, and not 
sit and sigh because we are not called or permitted to 
do the thing that we might think suits us best. 

Then, this discontent gets into the ministry as well 
as in the pew. Many a minister, hard-worked and pov- 
erty-pressed, as he picks up a book to refresh his mind 
and warm his heart, is tempted to think and say, "Well, 
after all, may be my life is not going to be the success I 
could hope it to be, for I. by my work, am prevented 



202 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

from being a writer of books that seem to be so necessary, 
and that, alone, can give me a sort of earthly immor- 
tality." Here I have fought the devil in the front ranks, 
and yet I can not write a book. Some one else will do 
that, and yet I find it in my heart to do it. Now, if God 
lives and reigns, and He has placed us in a position to 
declare His truth to living men and women, and He al- 
lows or calls others to write books that will give them 
a name among men, do n't let us complain and fret, 
thinking we can not be what we could wish to, or we 
can not do what we find in our hearts to do. Do n't go 
back on your calling. If God has called you to preach, 
preach with all your might from your pulpits, as though 
they were thrones of ivory, and God will be satisfied, and 
you will be loyal to the work you are doing. How can 
a man work for God in a given place if he thinks he is 
belittling himself in the work he does? A discontented 
spirit that quarrels with his lot and labor is a hot axle 
without grease, that has to go without the comfort of 
ease. Be easy and happy in your calling. Magnify the 
work God has given you, and, if it is to plow, plow well, 
or if to preach, preach well, and be happy and contented. 
Others, who are in the mission-field, or even in the 
work of writing books, are often plagued by the enemy 
because they can not be scholars. How little Satan will 
make the work of simply publishing a book, or editing 
a paper, or delivering a sermon appear when he brings 
his glasses to bear upon them! If you look through a 
field or opera glass at either end, the object observed will 
be distorted. If in the regular order, it will appear too 
large to be true. But if inverted, O my, how little it will 
look! So that those who would be true to themselves 
and their calling, had better not look too much at their 



David's Spirit of Loyalty. 203 

own work in any way. But if God has given you a place 
in the Church doing anything for Him, in the name of 
Him who for your sakes became poor, do not fret and 
vex your souls because you can not do all that is to be 
done. If you are sort of first man, and must clear the 
ground for another Solomon to come after to do the 
building, rejoice and be glad, for in that your consecra- 
tion lies. 

Just one other thing in this place about work, and 
that is, keep in the place that God has given you. Many 
a good layman is spoiled to make a poor minister. Many 
a good preacher is spoiled to make a poor editor; and 
many a good editor is spoiled to make a poor scholar, 
just because God is not leading that way. If God leads, 
follow, no matter where that may be. I love to hear a 
young man or woman preach, even if they do it very 
poorly, and right here I would say, that the poorest ser- 
mon ever preached in the name of Jesus is better than 
the best criticism ever made upon it. And any ordinary 
sermon is good enough for the folks of this or any other 
day, for not more than half the truth that is proclaimed 
is ever obeyed at best. So do n't let us fall up-stairs ; 
but let us work the field God has given us with a happy 
heart, and let others do the thing that we are not called 
upon to do without feeling that we are in some sense 
slighted or neglected by the great Head of the Church, 
or that we have been kept down, and others have been 
advanced faster than we. I have often been tempted on 
that line. How often has the enemy come to me and 
suggested that if I only had a little help from those 
above me in the Church, how much good it would have 
done! How fast I could have grown! How much bet- 
ter I could have served the Church! But just the con- 



204 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

trary is the truth. I have had all the help that God dared 
give me, I have no doubt. The spirit that will complain 
will be proud if allowed to get up in some other per- 
son's corner. And, after all, all the work, the particular 
work that any one of us is doing, is as necessary as any 
that any one else does. The wars had to be fought 
as well as the walls built. The one that did the one 
may be disqualified for the work of the other, as one 
work does disqualify us for another sort, but all is alike 
important in the eyes of Him who will reward in that 
great day. What does it matter to me if by my revival 
work a thousand books have gone unread, if by doing 
my little work the great cause of truth has been served 
and souls have been saved? 

A mother may feel that she is doing nothing in 
nursing her babe. The father may think he is doing 
nothing in supporting that little home. The farmer may 
feel that he is of but little consequence when he works 
all week, and goes to meeting on Sunday and midweek 
only, and all the mission-field out before him. But 
mark you well, God has placed us in our lots; and the part 
of loyalty is not in getting out, but working in the place 
that God has allotted us. I venture that any man in 
any place that God has placed him (let that place be 
what it may) is as happy as any man in the world if he 
is contented. And the man that is out of place (no 
matter whether the digression be up or down), he is an 
unhappy man. Happiness is found in doing and be- 
ing and suffering the will of a good God. 

III. TH£ SPIRIT OP LOYAI/TY TO THE DIVINE WORD. 

God spoke, and that was enough for David, no mat- 
ter how much it conflicted with his likes or dislikes. 
God's Word was a lever that turned David any way 



David's Spirit of Loyalty. 



205 



the Divine will wished. He did not cavil nor try to 
wrest it from its true meaning, as did the old woman 
who believed in lot and cast her cane in the forks of 
the road. No; he had God's Word, and he stood by 
it if it did pinch him. This suggests several thoughts 
practical to-day. 

Men to-day do not like the authority of the Divine 
Word. This is seen wherever men preach as though 
they believed the words of God. How many will say, Well, 
I think thus and so, when they know God's Word has 
uttered the Divine mind on the subject! And believers 
too! Now, if God has spoken, it is wise and kind and 
safe and right to obey that Word. Now, of course, in 
these later days, higher critics have succeeded in under- 
mining the faith of many in the Word of God; but, 
after all, they have not attacked the more practical 
writings of the New Testament, and as yet they stand 
firm. But the spirit of disloyalty to the teaching of 
the Scriptures is held in very light esteem by many, 
even of those who believe in them. Now, for one, I 
do not care for all the Ingersolls and Briggses that ever 
w r ere born, if believers only allow the Word of God 
to color their lives. If ye will live out the teaching of 
the Word of God, as David obeyed it, even when it 
runs counter to our preconceived notion and ancient 
practices and carnal habits, men will see the power of 
a holy life, and feel its sanctity too, to an extent that 
no cavil can undo. But when the children of God will 
pare down the truth of God, or put upon it a private 
interpretation, or live in constant violation of these 
plain meanings and commands, then the progress must 
be hindered, and defeat of the individual believer will be 
sure. 

Now, God must be expected to say things that we 



206 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

do not see clearly, else He would be nothing more than 
we are. He must be expected to say things that will 
intercept our manner of life and our purpose of living, 
else He would be writing to those who were all right. 
He must be expected to say things that drive us in 
prayer to Him for help from the Holy Spirit, else the 
Comforter would have never been offered. Now, all 
this is patent to me, and I see David's loyalty to the 
truth as one of the best things in his notable life. He 
might have said, "Well, surely God will not be angry 
if I build Him a temple;" but if he had tried, his ene- 
mies whom he had whipped might have come, been 
turned loose upon him, and his work ended. But 
whether or not I can understand what might have hap- 
pened to David if he had disobeyed, is not the question. 
The fact that God had forbidden him was enough, and 
he believed that too. 

God speaks to us to-day about things that often run 
into our plans. We w<ould like to make money, and He 
tells us to evangelize the nations. Some few hear, and 
others just look at the Word as though God did not 
mean what He said. We want to do something else. 
God tells a man to go and preach. But he has some 
business scheme on hand, and he will not prepare him- 
self to do the work, and so lives, excusing himself, 
when all the time God knows all about it, and knows 
he could preach if he would. God tells some one to 
go and visit families, and do some home-missionary 
work that may inconvenience them, or drive them into 
homes where it is not the most pleasant; and they just 
say they can't. But God knows they mean they won't. 
God tells some one to give a little more money this 
time than formerly; and they do not think others are 



David's Spirit of Loyalty. 



207 



giving all they should, and they refuse, and God is dis- 
honored, and their souls are robbed of the blessing. 

Then the Lord sees something wrong in the past 
life of some one that prevents them building in the 
temple as they might. He tells them to go and make 
it all right ; but they do n't like to do those humbling 
things; they see no' use in stirring up old scores or in 
making a fuss over some little thing that concerns them 
so little; and the hardness continues, and the work is 
hindered. May be they have driven some sharp bar- 
gains with some one; and when they pray the sky 
seems brass, and they seem to be against a wall in their 
prayers. God has the remedy in the adjustment. They 
will not obey, and live in leanness and die in the dark- 
ness and lost at last. It may be a confession to a wife, 
a husband, a child, a neighbor. It may be to do some 
duty that they have shunned, or offer some service that 
they have withheld. But when the Word comes, be- 
cause it hurts the plans, smashes the arrangement, or 
crosses the pride, or thwarts the will in some secret 
things, they say, No! to their great loss. How much 
is wrong in the Church of Christ I will not presume to 
divine, much less state; but one thing is sure: if all the 
Church of God brought all its tithes into the store- 
house, there would not be room to receive all that the 
Lord would pour out of His Spirit upon Zion. How 
many revivals are practically things of vapor, soon to 
blow away! How many revivals are things of straw, 
that will not stand the fire! How many revivals are 
naught because the poor minister has been discouraged 
by being permitted to do all the work himself or being 
picked to pieces by an over-critical Church! Now, God 
has adjusted all this in His Word; and if we but seek 



208 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

the light, and then walk in it, we should never mourn 
dry and barren lands, nor withered, blighted fruits. God 
would cause the oil and wine to increase, and all the 
enemies should be driven in the desert. O that God 
had those who would obey His Word in all things to 
his own glory and Zion's eternal good! 

Then, again, I can imagine how David had been 
saying he was going to build that temple; and now, the 
word of the Lord arresting it, put him in a bad light. 
Satan would appeal to his pride; but God had spoken, 
and he was loyal. Do you know there are things in 
God's Word that, if we obey, they will put us in a bad 
light in the eyes of the world? Yes, even the Church 
will not endure all the things of the Eternal Word put 
into practice. Now, if Paul could come back to earth 
and deliver his sermon on the Second Coming that he 
delivered to the Thessalonians, do not you think he 
would get into trouble? Do not you think that if he 
would anoint and pray with the sick, or wish to testify 
on that line, some of the wiseacres in the Church would 
raise a howl of fanaticism? O yes. If James went 
into some pulpits to-day and asked them that were sick 
to call for the elders of the Church, and be anointed 
for healing, a storm of unkindly criticism, if not a storm 
of something more substantial and hurtful, would be 
poured out upon his holy head. Many ministers do 
not preach the whole truth because it puts them in a 
bad light. Bless God, David is not without a following 
even in these Laodicean days of temporizing and luke- 
warmness. But O that the Church had the loyalty to 
God's Word that would bring them into conflict with 
sin and selfishness to the extent that one more perse- 
cution would be the expression of the world's need of 



David's Spirit of Loyalty. 209 

regeneration! If God has spoken, is not that enough? 
It was for David, even when it put him in a bad light 
in the eyes of his fellow-men. God's Word is supreme, 
as the Spirit makes it plain. And above those table- 
lands of low faith and devotion are sunlit peaks 
that would delight the soul of the saint that has the 
courage to climb. Beneath the surface-rock of hard 
verbal criticism flows a fountain of the sweetest water 
that was ever quaffed. Above the dark cloud of pinch- 
ing command shines the eternal Sun of righteousness. 
And when the breakers are dashing in mad fury against 
the coast, there is perfect calm in mid-sea. O dear 
ones! Dare to obey God's Word; and though we do 
not understand the limitation, it will all come out right 
at last. So it did with David. Solomon built a temple 
that was a credit to his dear departed father. 

But one other thought comes before us for con- 
sideration; and that is: 

IV. HIS LOYALTY TO THE) DIVINELY WORTHY. 

Now, humanly speaking, if any merit can be 
claimed by any of the servants of the Lord; if any one 
could expect to be, by labors performed, entitled to build 
that temple of old, it surely was the man David, who 
had endured so much hardness and fought so bravely 
the battles of the new kingdom. But alas! no one can 
be worthy, as all have sinned as David did. So, no 
one being worthy naturally, and the Lord sovereign 
of the universe, He is the one to choose who shall per- 
form a given piece of work. And if God knows the 
end from the beginning, He surely did not choose Solo- 
mon because he was more pious than his father David. 
But the one thing that seemed to disqualify David was 
14 



210 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

that he was a man of blood. Perhaps if he had built 
the temple, his enemies would hold it in perpetual ab- 
horrence as a monument of their defeat, and so never 
cease to endeavor to destroy it; while Solomon, who 
was young and had not been a victor over them in 
battle, could build it without incurring a suspicion that 
it was a monument to commemorate the defeat of the 
enemy, but indeed a house of worship to the true God. 
However, David was, for the reason of his wars, pre- 
vented building, and his inexperienced, youthful son was 
appointed in his stead. But David did not rail or go 
out and pout, but acted the man, and gave way to 
the younger and the chosen one. 

Note, here was an opportunity to complain of unfair 
treatment; but not one word escapes the lips of the 
man of God. Who was Solomon that he should be 
advanced to build a temple that was to stand all those 
centuries? Why does not God reward with earthly 
emolument those who have fought His battles for Him? 
What reason is it in being laid aside when he could as 
well do it as not? Now, all these and a thousand 
questions might be suggested as presented to David 
by the enemy, to tempt him to discontent; but whether 
they were or not, David stood firm, and acquiesced in 
the will of the Lord. 

Neither did David get jealous of Solomon because 
he was taking his place, though no doubt Satan did 
his part to suggest that sin. How common it is for 
those who are succeeded by younger servants to give 
way to hard feelings and bitterness! Satan will say, 
"Well, they are putting themselves forward too fast;" 
or, "They are ambitious to be seen, and make a show 
of themselves." And whether or not we know it, many 



David's Spirit of Loyalty. 211 

young people are kept back by this sort of thing. 
Now, if nothing of this kind exists, it sweetens the face 
of the seemingly supplanted, it tightens their grasp of 
the hand, and it gives a tone of encouragement to the 
words they utter in the ears of the young temple-build- 
ers that will go far to make the work a pleasant 
thing. Of course, Solomon might have acted ugly in 
his new position, but with that David had nothing to 
do. God was dealing with David, and so He is with 
us; so we will stick to our text, and see where the 
Lord will lead us. O how grinding and embittering 
a little discontent along this line will make a man! And 
as the one must grow and the other decrease in some 
sense, how needful it is to see that none of this spirit 
gets into the heart of the ones seemingly laid aside! I 
could wish to preach a sermon on how Solomon 
should treat David, but not at this time. David's loy- 
alty seems to eclipse all else in this lesson. 

David might have become jealous and refused to 
aid in the building of the temple. It takes no stretch 
of imagination to see how it would have fettered the 
work if he had got ugly on their hands. It takes but 
little to see how it would have embarrassed Solomon 
and all the friends of both. It can readily be seen how it 
might have grown into enmity to Solomon; for jealousy 
is not only cruel as the grave, but is no respecter of 
persons, and will, if stirred or planted, work disaster 
to all; for a child of God has no right to have such 
a plant or fire in his soul. If Satan had succeeded in 
planting the thing, who can imagine to what extent it 
might have grown! And O, to grow old ugly, or to 
advance toward God in rebellion against Him, is too 
sad to contemplate! 



212 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

But no. David stood by the work with all his 
heart. He gave his means most liberally; and though 
Solomon built the temple, no one can ever think of the 
temple or its building without thinking of the noble 
spirit and cheerful liberality of his father. 

But this and other vipers of the brood of sin are 
not confined to any one class. The man who is called 
to preach, or write a book, or do some other work 
that the world must notice, is often the object of jeal- 
ousy. It is very much like being jealous of the man 
up in the steeple, who is chiming the bells so melo- 
diously, and envying him his nearness to the music or 
the superior advantage he has to most ordinary mor- 
tals. But go a little closer, look well before you de- 
cide; and how the thing is changed! See him there 
as he clutches the keys, that, withal, do not move so 
easily. See him as he sits there, with the lines 
of care on his face; see the perspiration trickle down 
his face, and his whole body convulsed with the 
effort, and then ask where the music is the sweet- 
est, in the steeple, at the keys, or at a distance? 
Just so with many a man who is the object of envy. 
If you could see how the man whom God has called 
to build has to plan, has to lie awake at night while 
others sleep; how he slights rest and food and all the 
luxuries of life to do his work, you would not envy 
him. You would not load him with the added care and 
responsibility of nursing you. No, after all, while Solo- 
mon had the pleasure of building the temple, it might 
have been that David was not unfortunate in missing 
it. And yet there is a kind of philosophy that will 
argue these hateful feelings out of the heart, but, thank 
God! the Holy Ghost can make it as easy to be all 



David's Spirit of Loyalty. 213 

right in this as it was for David. O what an admirable 
feeling of satisfaction it is to see others go on and 
do work that we shall never be able to do, and yet 
keep sweet and pure in heart! For my own part, I 
had rather have the measles, small-pox, gout, rheuma- 
tism, and a whole lot of other physical ailments, than 
to have one of these spiritual diseases in my soul. 

But David's loyalty culminates in his evident de- 
light that his son was succeeding him, and that he was 
to do the work. How sad it would be if all the 
work done had to be done by some one of us to the 
exclusion of others! Suppose there were no succession 
in the work of the Lord, and after one was too old or 
something else to be of much service, the work had to 
stop, would it not be a matter of sorrow? Then let us 
rejoice in those that do work we can not do. Let us 
thank God for all that are raised up to take our place. 
We often see the workers change, but the work is the 
same, and goes on to the end. Now, I think the man 
filled with the Holy Ghost will ever be delighted to see 
others go on with work he either can not do or is pre- 
vented from doing. If some one writes a good book 
that brings fame, and perhaps wealth, don't think it 
should have been you; for not half the books published 
amount to anything; and if this one is a success, and 
is owned and blessed of the Lord, I find it in my heart 
to pray for its circulation. And really I am glad that 
God did not lay all the work of the Church upon me; 
for I now have all I can do, and more than I can do 
as I could wish. O how nice it is to be able to say to all 
those that labor for the Lord, "God bless thee, and use 
thee abundantly!" When in Chicago, I met an editor 
of books who has grown rich by his pen and publica- 



214 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

tions; and when I knelt and prayed for him as though 
I really meant it, he actually seemed surprised that any 
one could so wish his prosperity. I did not know at the 
time that he was rich or had means, but I just wanted 
God to help him to do good, and it broke him all to 
pieces. Why not? All those that work for Jesus have 
abundant room. I am not like Thomas Dixon, who 
thinks there are too many preachers. No, friends, 
there are not half enough. I wish there were so many 
good ones that I would never need to go out of my 
little corner. I could wish to stay in one place, and 
work for Jesus with all my might, and, when the end 
came, get into the chariot, and go off to glory, leaving 
my little place to some other servant of Christ, if the 
Lord tarries. 

Sir Humphrey Davy, on being asked what was his 
greatest discovery, said, with evident satisfaction, 
"Michael Faraday." This is the spirit of loyalty to 
science. He wanted to see the work of the laboratory 
go on, and he was delighted that some one was going 
to take his place. Now, I suppose Davy did all he 
could to prepare Faraday for the work of the sanctum, 
and did all in his power to make him a success, taught 
him the deep things of chemistry and all that pertained 
to the work doing. I suppose David told Solomon 
all he knew, and was glad to be perpetuated in his son 
as king. So the man or woman who takes hold of 
the young and rising, and gives them a helping hand 
to rise, imparting all the knowledge they possess that 
will enable them to the better do their work, they will 
live on in the ministry of the next generations. O there 
is so much an experienced minister can teach out of his 
stock of knowledge and experience that would further 



David's Spirit of Loyalty-. 215 

on the way the young, and give the next generation a 
better chance than they themselves have had. Just so 
with all classes of believers when in contact with young 
converts. How much we might say that will help 
them to be better Christians! But it applies more 
especially to the ministry and those in position in the 
Church, that have lore that will lighten the load of 
the next one to bear the burden. 

What a nice sight that must be to high heaven to 
see an old soldier of the Cross firing the hearts of the 
young for the battle against Satan and sin, and teach- 
ing them all the best points of holy warfare, that they 
may the better serve their mutual King! I think all 
heaven must rejoice in that sight. This means loyalty 
to the worthy. 

Many a soldier has died on the battle-field without 
the credit that was his due. Many a brave man has 
lived in neglect and want. Many a man that has 
plodded and worked hard for the invention of some 
machine or appliance of some sort to make life easier 
for some one else, has died without his reward. Many 
a statesman and teacher and educator and scholar has 
died in poverty and want, unhonored and unsung, be- 
cause unknown or unappreciated; but, thank God! all 
those who are loyal to Him shall find and never fail of 
their reward. We write in the roll of honor the val- 
iant and brave that have served their country. So 
God writes in the Lamb's Book of Life all those who 
are true to Him in this wicked world. Those that 
serve Him in loyalty shall have their names engraven 
on His hand. Glory! 

My dear ones! Let not the sun set on a day ill 
spent, on an evil temper entertained, on any feeling of 



216 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

jealousy or envy or selfishness, or any other thing that 
will be unpleasant to meet in the great day. Be true 
to God; and if your great plans for life must remain in 
your hearts undeveloped, and if some one else fills the 
place that you thought you were worthy to fill, if the 
enemy tempts you by saying that you have not had 
your due consideration, just be loyal to the standard of 
the Son of God, our Savior, "who, though He was rich, 
yet for your sakes became poor, that ye through His 
poverty might become rich." Consider Him "who 
made Himself of no reputation, and became obedient 
unto death, even the death of the cross," that we might 
be saved; and so the God of peace shall work out in 
you to will and to do of His own good pleasure, to whom 
be glory for ever and ever. 



XIX. 
GIDEON. 

"And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and 
said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man 
of valor." (Judges vi, 12.) 

HP HIS period of Jewish history is very interesting to 
* those loving adventure and exploit. Disorganiza- 
tion and misorganization everywhere prevailed. Apos- 
tasy on the part of Israel separated them from God, to 
their subversion and ruin. Then, here and there, a 
trustworthy soul would come to the front, shining out 
like a star in the night of misrule and anarchy, and by 
God's guidance would again enforce law, and put to 
flight the forces of the enemy. In this time and age, 
Gideon lived and judged Israel. 

During this period of Israel's history, during the 
five hundred years that judges reigned, many defeats 
were experienced. God raised up for deliverance very 
peculiar means, many interesting characters, but no one 
more instructive and interesting than Gideon. So let us 

note: 

I. HIS CAIX. 

God called Gideon by a heavenly messenger. God 
had seen the sad condition of His people, and just as 
soon as some one could be used, He gave the call to 
deliver Israel. We often think when things go all wrong, 
that somehow God has forsaken or lost His interest in 
His people, when the truth is, God is only waiting for 

217 



218 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

some one He can call to co-operate with Him. There 
is never a day goes by that God is not watching for 
those who will work for Him. 

I believe, when we look close into the life of Gideon, 
we can see some of the conditions of usefulness the 
Lord waits for us to manifest. 

He was accustomed to labor. God has ever mani- 
fested a preference for the busy. Many think, O they 
can't do anything for God because they are so busy; 
but if history proves anything in the way of throwing 
light on God's selection of workers, it surely confirms 
the view that God prefers to call the busy. 

He called David when he was in the field with the 
sheep, Saul when he was hunting the asses, Elisha 
when he was plowing, and the disciples when they were 
mending their nets, or Matthew when busy receiving 
the taxes; and Judas was the only one I can recall that 
had nothing to do, and he betrayed his Master for 
money that he was too lazy to work for. Paul made 
tents; Luther was busy fasting and praying when God 
gave him his life's work. George Fox was a cobbler, 
and John Wesley was a busy student at Oxford. Work- 
ing for God means work, means fatigue; and God can 
use best those who are accustomed to work and weari- 
ness. Gideon was threshing wheat as a common laborer, 
and he was the man of all Israel God wanted. 

As no doubt there were other workingmen in Israel 
as well as Gideon, we must look for other traits God 
seeks in His workers. We see he was humble. He 
said, "My family is poor, and I am the least in my fa- 
ther's house." Never mind, Gideon, God can use poor 
people. Poverty is no barrier to service for Jesus, but, 
on the contrary, often a very desirable qualification. 



Gideon. 



219 



If he had a lot of cattle, houses, or land, it might have 
been a little harder to get him to hear the call; but, 
being poor, he was disembarrassed of encumbering 
wealth, and was that much easier to start. The rich young 
ruler was not the only one God ever called that refused 
because he had money. Then, sometimes wealth fosters 
a fastidious taste that is incompatible with service for 
God. God nowhere promises luxuries to his servants, 
but only necessities. How many a man runs aground 
on some reef or other by trying to live as the world- 
ling lives! O, it is an immense advantage to be poor, 
sometimes, though it is hard to make ourselves be- 
lieve it. 

Then, too, he had a knowledge of God's dealing 
with men. How pathetically he cites the history of the 
past that he had heard from his father. Not that he 
had been to some theological seminary or college, nor 
that he was a walking cyclopedia of current lore, but he 
knew something about God. The Lord nowhere lays 
a premium on ignorance, nor can any ever have too 
much knowledge if properly consecrated; but the 
knowledge that God can use is a knowledge of what 
He is, and of what He can and will do, as well as what 
He has done. 

History repeats itself, says the critic; and I say, 
God's dealings, too, repeat themselves. Has God ever 
interposed on behalf of man? If so, He will again. 
Has God ever called men to work for Him, to co-oper- 
ate with Him? He will again. If He has risen for the 
help of His people in the past, we can expect Him to 
do so in the future. Has He baptized with the Holy 
Ghost in the past? Has He anointed for service with 
an unction that abideth in the past? He will again. Has 



220 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

He healed in the past? He surely will now. This is 
the knowledge that He wants His children to possess. 
This knowledge Gideon did have, and God called him. 

Once more, let us note that Gideon not only had 
this in his mind, but the sad condition of Israel, occa- 
sioned by the absence of God's interposition, burdened 
and oppressed his heart. He felt something as did John 
Knox, when he cried, "Lord, give me Scotland, or I 
die." He felt as did Paul when he, with tears, pleaded 
with the people to be reconciled to God. He felt as 
did the early Methodists and Quakers when they cried 
night and day to God for His blessing. O how unfeel- 
ing about God's work so many are! How few, indeed, 
seem to feel the force of the world's encroachment 
upon the Church ! 

Have we anything to make us feel to-day? Is the 
Church all it should be? A thousand "Noes" come to 
us from all quarters. Can not God deliver us to-day 
as well as in the days of Gideon? "Yes," comes to 
us from all down the ages. Then why not feel about the 
matter? But how can a man feel when he does not? 
Think, brother, what the Church is, and what she should 
be; and if you do not feel, it is because you are 
Head and past feeling. If you feel, and feel intelli- 
gently, God will come to your deliverance. But we 
must not follow this too far. Although the call is so 
important, we can never stop here, for that is the mis- 
take that multitudes make when called; they do not 
go on. So note: 

II. HIS CAREFULNESS. 

He did not rush right into what he now believed 
was his duty, but was careful to be sure that he was 
not mistaken. Now, carefulness is no bad trait of 



Gideon. 221 

character in a servant of God. There is a vast chasm 
between carefulness and fear. Gideon knew no fear, 
yet he was careful. Bishop Simpson said the man 
called of God to preach, never is the man that seeks 
for the place, and the man unfit for a position is ever 
the man that wants to* rush into a place. Gideon was 
wanting to be sure, and in all his hesitancy, God no- 
where upbraids him for lack of fidelity. 

He would not let the angel messenger go till he 
had shown a sign to confirm his words or commission. 
So Gideon brought an offering, and the angel attested 
his supernatural personage, greatly to Gideon's comfort. 

Then again, he built an altar by night, as the people 
were Baal worshipers, and made an offering to the Lord, 
no doubt for the same purpose. 

Then he tried the fleece, both dry and wet, so that 
there may be no doubt in his mind. He asked that 
the fleece he had placed for the purpose should be wet 
with the dew, and all the rest of the ground dry, and 
it was so. And once more did he wish to> prove his 
commission. He said unto the Lord God, "Let not 
Thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but 
this once." He asked God to let the fleece be dry, and all 
the ground wet, and it was so. Then he went on to 
form his army. 

Yet after all, he went to the Lord, because nearly 
all his army was rejected of God, and asked for an- 
other sign; and God granted it by sending him to spy 
out the camp and overhear the enemy, which last was 
so convincing that he said no more, but did all God told 
him, and was faithful. 

Now, in all this carefulness, in which he was not 
censured, he manifested, I think, his great appreciation 
of God's cause. The man that will go to meeting with- 



222 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

out any care to get his heart ready is not a good soldier. 
No more is the minister that has no thought about the 
great duties resting upon him when he ministers to 
immortal spirits. God has a right to the respect that 
carefulness bespeaks. 

Now, those called of God to work or worship need 
to know the mind of the Lord just as much as Gideon, and, 
if careful in this way, God will never find fault with them, I 
am sure. But strange as the position may seem, this is 
one of the greatest lacks of our day. Men are so busy 
in their merchandise, their society gatherings, in their 
amusements, and in reading all the news of the world 
of crime and fashion and folly, that to be careful about 
Divine things is out of the question. 

Were men careful about God's work, careful as they 
should be, think you that the pope could hoodwink 
people into believing that a little bit of bread in the 
hands of a priest is transformed into God, or a little 
wine in a glass turned into the very blood of Christ? 
No, he could not. Do you think, if men were careful 
about their soul's salvation and the prosperity of Zion, 
less than one cent per head would be given annually to 
the glorious work of foreign missions? I do not believe 
it. Or think you, if men were careful about Divine 
things, they would be satisfied with the truth gotten 
in a sermon once or twice a week, and live in habitual 
neglect of the Bible? O no. These things would not 
be if men were careful to know God's will. 

If men paid as little attention and careful thought 
to their other interests as they do to religion, I am afraid 
they all would be bankrupt erelong. No, they have time 
for all and everything; can bestow care upon all and 
anything else but religion; but religion, that with which 



Gideon. 223 

they shall have to do when all the suns and stars have 
grown old and cold, is crowded off into the little corner 
of a few moments, at best a few hours a week. Is there 
any wonder there are so many infidels? No, it can not 
be otherwise. If we are not careful to know the truth, if 
we do not take time to be intelligent Christians, we can 
not feel; and if we do not feel, we can not make others 
feel; and if the world can not be made to feel, it will go 
to hell sure. No, Gideon was not wrong to thus care- 
fully test his call and commission. Once more note: 

III. HIS COMPANY. 

He had been in earnest, and raised a large army; of 
course, not so many as his enemies had; but God's chil- 
dren, to be victorious, need not be so numerous — "one 
chase a thousand." And yet, while he had less than the 
enemy, God said, "Gideon, the people that are with thee 
are too many." And God tells Gideon why. This sug- 
gests why God can not use some people. 

He said they would boast they had done it them- 
selves, and that could not be allowed. So, we see, boast- 
ers can not be among those who will be effective in the 
Lord's work. The boasting had to stop by cutting down 
all hope of success by natural means or talents. So, right 
in conection with this, God told Gideon all the fearful had 
to go home, as much as to say that, while it would cut 
down the number, it would also remove all the boasters. 
Is it possible that the fearful and cowardly are the most 
likely to boast? Is it not actually so, that the courageous 
man is a man of few words? 

However, all the fearful ones had to go home. And 
what was poor Gideon's feelings when he saw twenty-two 
thousand of them go home, and forsake the cause? I 



224 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

think he must have thought the outlook was not very 
flattering if there were so many cowards in Israel. And 
that cowardly lot did not end the rank and file of the 
fearful. How many to-day will not serve in His way 
because they are afraid? Form unholy alliances with the 
ungodly because they can not stand alone? Resort to all 
sort of craft to get advantage for fear of want, or some- 
thing else? Carry revolvers, knives, all for fear of some- 
thing? Ministers afraid, Church trustees afraid, men 
afraid, women afraid, and the children afraid. Afraid of 
want, of war, of criticism, of persecution, of poverty. 
Lord God, drive out the fear from Thy army to-day ! 

Still the army was too large, for some would boast 
that were not fearful. So God said to Gideon, "The 
people are yet too many; bring them down to the water, 
and I will try them for thee there." So Gideon led them 
down to drink, and God said, "All that lap water as a 
dog shall go; but the rest, that bow down, shall not go." 
Now, this seems strange to us; but when we remember 
that no one could bow down to drink without loosing 
their armor, we see the point. So they all went down, 
and only three hundred lapped water out of their hands, 
because they had their armor on tight; but the nine 
thousand seven hundred loosed their armor, and so got 
down and drank, which disqualified them for war, since 
they were not watchful and cautious. Watchfulness was as 
as much and is as much a fitness for fighting as courage. 
Jesus said, "Watch and pray." Every good general 
knows the importance of watching, even after the enemy 
seems to be utterly defeated. You all, perhaps, remember 
the story of Napoleon's guard shooting the dog as he 
tried to crawl through the lines after Napoleon had 
given orders to allow nothing to pass. Yet the dog was 



Gideon. 225 

only a skin with a man in it. God wants men to-day that 
will watch for Him as well as fight. 

How many a revival has been killed, after God had 
given great victory, by the Church settling down and 
going fast to sleep, and the devil came in, and takes the 
w T hole camp an easy prey! 

We see how very few the Lord has whom He can 
trust. The whole of Gideon's army were good soldiers 
except 31,700; that left three hundred good fighting 
men. Would the proportion be larger to-day, think you? 
So many talk about trusting God, and never once think 
that God can not trust them. O, what a lesson this is 
on the condition of the Church of Christ! 

How did poor Gideon feel when he saw only three 
hundred out of all that mighty host of thousands? I 
suppose he grew desperate, and simply said, "Well, God 
has promised, and that ends it." But God allows him to 
go to the camp, and overhear the words of the hosts 
encamped against them, which were all encouraging, and 
on he went to victory. 

VI. HIS CONQUEST. 

The victory was all supernatural. God gave them 
instructions to have horns, and pitchers in which were 
lamps secreted, and march down to the encampment — 
there they divided into three companies, each of one 
hundred men — and to surround the camp, blow their 
horns, break the pitchers to let the light shine. They 
i did so, and when the Midian host saw the light, and heard 
the horns of triumph blow, they all began to make good 
their escape. And in their haste and confusion of flight, 
they fell to killing one another, thinking they were ene- 
mies, and, by their own hands, were completely routed. 
15 



226 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

God's methods are often beyond our conception of 
sufficiency, or, rather, not up to what we naturally think 
the occasion demands. Now, the army was very weak. 
The weapons were not of a sort to flatter with much suc- 
cess. If it had been to-day, no little fuss would be ex- 
perienced in trying to get the Church to receive and use 
things so novel. Afraid of anything new, and a fight for 
the old, is the only piety some profess to have, or, at 
least, manifest. 

I suppose higher critics have a time trying to make 
this square with their rules and canons. But God does 
just this way. Look at the reformers, the evangelists, 
the apostles, all insufficient in the eyes of the world. But 
God works supernaturally; that is how we can dare to 
fight against odds. Praise the Lord! 

If God wants to use some new means to-day, can He 
have the privilege? Will we allow Him the right of way? 
Can we trust Him if He trusts us? God help us to be 
odd enough to be of some use in the service of the 
Master! 



XX. 

THE LAMB OF GOD. 

"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin 
of the world!" (John i, 29.) 

'"THESE are the words of the forerunner of Christ, and 
* all down the ages they have greeted the ears of men as 
the voice of a guide in the desert. John the Baptist was 
anointed to introduce Christ into the world, and this 
is his word. 

Now, this text was spoken in the accents of triumph. 
Who would not greet and welcome the boon of a clean 
record? How the multitudes had crowded to the water 
of Jordan to John's baptism for the remission of sins 
through the virtue of the One to come! How, upon all 
the Judean altars, the lambs and oxen had bled and burnt 
fifteen hundred years! How the nations, the world over, 
and all down the ages, have tried, by charms and offer- 
ings and sacrifices, to produce a sense of safety from the 
conscious guilt of sin! Who can read the plaintive pleas 
of the fifty-first Psalm without feeling the priceless worth 
of Divine pardon? And I care not where it may be, in 
Judea, on the Nile, Amazon, Congo, or Orinoco, the sons 
of men have ever cried for the pardon of sins. 

All this is perfectly consistent too. For you can not 
run away from sin. Go where you please, your sin will 
accompany you. Climb the heights or descend the 
depths, sin will be your first visitant. Pursue the track- 
less ocean the globe round, sin will welcome you to the 

227 



228 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

haven you reach. Yes, go into the world of shades, and 
sin will be your everlasting associate and tormentor. Nor 
can peace be had while we are in such a condition. But 
what impresses me most is, the thought that no remedy 
can be found in ourselves or self-efforts. The seclusion 
of the monastery; the flagellations of the fanatics; the 
animal excitations of the dancing Dervishes; the body- 
destroying pilgrimages of the mediaeval saints; nor the 
pennance and fasting of the modern pagans in the folds 
of Catholicism; no, not one, nor all of these, can atone 
for the sins of a man's soul, nor secure him peace of 
heart and life by changing the affections. Nowhere is 
it said that one of these things can save, but in the mind 
of the unenlightened and uninspired followers of carnal 
thoughts. But here, in the very face of all the sinful 
world, the blessed word comes to us, that to look to the 
Son of God for pardon, to cast one look of faith to the 
Lamb slain for man, he may become as free from sin as 
though he never sinned in all his life. Glory! 

We have walked around the text somewhat, now let 
us look into its very heart, if possible, and get at its 
deepest and best meaning, though its teachings lie, after 
all, very near the surface. So note, Christ is 

I. THE SOLITARY REMEDY FOR SIN. 

Notice, the word is the Lamb, not lambs. One soli- 
tary offering for sin is the whole tenor of the Word of 
God. All the Old Testament types, all the Old Testament 
offerings, services, and ceremonies, point to the one Lamb 
of the text. And the New Testament plainly says there 
is no other name under heaven given by which men can 
be saved than in the name of Jesus. 

It does not say Christ and the worshiper shall be able 



The Lamb of God. 229 

to cleanse from sin. This seems to be the thought of 
the papacy. If man suffers, if he pays pennance, if he 
do a certain number of fastings and washings, he may 
have a sort of hope, which, after all, is not complete 
till after death has driven him through purgatory, and 
the money of the living has got him out. Now this is 
not one whit better than heathenism. It surely is not 
Christianity. For Christianity offers complete pardon 
for all sins here, and, bless God! no purgatory. Pur- 
gatory is not once mentioned in the Bible. No, not 
once. 

There are just four ways by which men try to get rid of 
sin, and when we reduce it to so few, we can take time 
to look for a moment at each method. The first is trust- 
ing in one's self. No one but an unbeliever ever thinks 
this. The so-called moralist, often not too moral either — 
he thinks he can save himself by good works or by his 
correct living without any help from God. Now the folly 
of this is so manifest, that I need only say that, if this 
were the truth, or even possible, as a method of salvation, 
Christ died in vain, the Bible has been written in vain, 
the Church is kept up in vain, all men pray in vain, and 
Christ's entire mission, from heaven to the cross, to the 
tomb, and back to glory, were all vain and useless. If 
there is a God who wrote this Bible, or had it written, 
if there is a heaven for the holy at God's right hand, then 
the moralist — the man trusting in his own goodness — 
will be found wanting in that great day. So we will 
leave him behind to his fate if he will not recognize the 
Son of God as his Savior. 

The next class are those who trust in Christ and 
themselves. They work away from salvation, and just 
throw Christ into the balance for good weight. Of 



230 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

course, they see no need of repentance, faith, and con- 
version, for all they need is a little help from Christ, and 
they can do the rest. They say they believe the Bible, 
they accept Christ as their Savior, and hope for a home 
in heaven; and yet all their life long they never have 
peace, because God has but the one way, the one offer- 
ing, the one salvation, and that is Christ. If you speak 
to them about their souls, they will say they pay their 
debts, and try to be kind and good, and do not deny 
the Scriptures, and think well of Christ, and yet never 
able to say they have passed from darkness to light, nor 
the power of Satan unto God. Now, if they would just 
throw overboard the whole of self and self-effort, and 
come to God and ask for salvation in the name of Jesus, 
they would rejoice all their days. Glory! 

Another class still goes a little further, and to their 
own good works and Christ, they add the good works of 
others to the store of piety they hope to have at the 
great day. The latter class were as though when Noah 
asked his hearers to trust in the ark, they would not, 
but hitch another canoe behind the ark, and go floating 
off behind. They did not need the rig, nor were they 
safe in the ark when trusting to the support of the canoe. 
But this class add another craft, a second canoe, and 
string it on behind the canoe behind the ark, that will 
mean but little trust, still less trust in the blessed old ark. 
For the more you have beside Christ, the farther away 
from Him you get. That is sure. Thank God you do n't 
need any other craft than the Old Ship Zion! It has out- 
ridden the fiercest storms, the wildest gales, and has 
never lost a soul. And how many are there who hitch 
to their own efforts and Christ's salvation the good works 
of some one else! They trust in the preacher or the 
priest; in the Church or the sacraments; in the saints of 



The Lame of God. 



231 



other ages, that had all they could do to get to heaven 
themselves; or in the water of baptism; in the prayers 
of some one, or the intercession of Mary; yes, a thousand 
things and persons are brought in to secure the favor of 
God and assure salvation at last; and yet, with all this 
superabundant effort of themselves and others, they never 
can say they know it is all well with their souls. For 
nowhere does God say that the goodness and good works 
of others will help us, but directly cuts off all such hope 
by telling the Church that, after we have done our very 
best, we are to say we are unprofitable servants. And 
I believe the most godly in whom some trust would say, 
Do n't put any trust in me, for I am nothing but a lost 
sinner, but for the grace of God. O, how many un- 
happy souls there are who trust in some one or some- 
thing besides Christ! A minister will trust in his 
preaching, a benevolent man in his benevolence, a for- 
malist in his forms. 

And again, we have another class who trust in Christ 
alone. Paul says, "I count all this but loss, or filth, that 
I may win Christ." And again he says, "God forbid I 
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. " 
And Peter said there is salvation in no other name but 
Jesus; while John said faith in Christ alone is enough 
to overcome the world; and John the Baptist said He, 
Christ, taketh away the sins of the world. What more 
do we want than that? Glory! Richard Baxter said, 
when dying, he might be sent to hell for the best thing 
he ever did. 

II. CHRIST IS THE: SUFFICIENT REMEDY FOR SIN. 

Now, if this is true, we need no other nor any addi- 
tional help. Let us look, for a few minutes, at the Divine 
Redeemer! We could not trust to any one that was not 



232 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

in some degree what we thought a good man should 
be. How does Jesus measure up in purity? 

He was holy. He never prayed for Himself, as did 
St. Patrick, who was a Scotch lad stolen by pirates, and 
taken into Ireland, where, as a swine herder, he wrestled 
and prayed till he knew God as his Father and Christ 
as his Savior. He never wanted to call fire down from 
heaven to consume His enemies as did St. John. He 
was free from that persecuting spirit that rankled in the 
breast of Paul when he put to death the Christians and 
gave his voice against poor young Stephen. Neither did 
He curse and swear as did Peter when he denied the 
Lord of life and glory before the court. As I study 
the lives of the so-called saints, the best of earth's sons, 
all down the ages, I find none that had not been sinners, 
and that did not cry to God for mercy. But here stands 
Jesus, that never sinned, never asked pardon, that was 
pure in thought, word, and deed, living as God among 
men, and who pardoned the sins of all that came to Him. 
When He offers Himself to be my Savior, I can trust 
Him, for He did no sin, and had no sin of His own to 
atone for, but came for no other purpose than to atone 
for our sins, so was able to atone for mine, if any one 
could, if there was to be an atonement anywhere. 

Then He was omnipotent in His purity. He never 
failed to do as He tried. He had power to heal the sick, 
to feed the hungry, to still the storms on the sea, He 
raised the dead, and nowhere did His power fail Him. 
Many there are who have the mind to do good, but have 
not the power; but the Son of God was almighty, and 
could do as well as desire. He invaded the dread do- 
minion of death, and was the only one that ever tri- 
umphed. He attacked the deadly maladies of the most 



The Lamb of God. 233 

degraded, and cured them all. He overcame the desert 
poverty and limitation, and fed thousands out of a few 
loaves and fishes. He offered life to all that would come 
to Him — life eternal. How men have traveled for the 
fountain of life, -for the fabled elixirs of life somewhere 
to be found, and, at last, dying in despair! But Jesus 
offered life to all, and showed He was able by emptying 
the grave. 

He went the lengths of service possible to any being 
on earth, and died for His cause, the salvation of men. 
O, can't you trust Him, when He spared not His own 
life, but gave it a ransom for all? If Christ had done 
less than to die, we might question His sincerity. But 
He went the length of the deepest consecration, and died 
for the faithful. This is why soldiers and martyrs, no 
matter what we may think of the principles they upheld, 
are so dear to the sons of men. They did all they could, 
they died for their cause. And that He died for us is made 
plain in all the Word of God. All the types and offerings 
of the Old Testament worship were but so many promises 
that, in the fullness of time, One should come who would 
die for our sins. That, Paul tells us, was according to 
Scripture. It is faith in the death, the blood, the sacrifice 
of Jesus that is the hope of pardon. God commends His 
love toward us in that, while we were sinners, Christ 
died for us. Now, some people seem to think this is 
most unreasonable, but I thank God for the death of 
Christ. We must rely on the Bible for all our spiritual 
knowledge, and the Bible says Christ died for us. This 
means the utmost of love, the highest expression of de- 
votion, the most sacred of all offerings. If a man so 
loved me, he would die for me. Some might say it, and 
then wouldn't do it; but if a man loved me so much he 



234 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

would die for me, all that the man had, his love would 
give me. All that he could do, would be done for me 
too. But if he actually did die for me, then I would be 
the meanest of men if I doubted his love and goodness. 
And when Omnipotence went into the grave for me, 
can I doubt Him any further? 

Yet, if Christ had lain in the grave, we might, after 
all, think, "Well, He was a good man, and one that had 
more power than any other man. But then, how do we 
know He was more than man, since He, in common 
with all men, died, and we saw Him no more?" If Christ 
had not risen, we would be filled with doubts, as was 
Thomas before he had seen the resurrected Christ. But 
there is nothing better attested in all the Word of God 
than that Jesus rose from the grave on the third day. 
Before His death He said He would, and because of this 
His remains were put into a sealed tomb, and a com- 
pany of guards placed around it. But soldiers could not 
keep the Son of God in a tomb. And on the first day 
of the week, the third day from His death, the grave 
opened, and the Son of God came forth, and disappeared. 
The soldiers said He had been stolen while they slept. 
But Jesus showed Himself to His followers many times 
during the forty days He was on earth after the resur- 
rection, and was seen of about five hundred at one time. 
He rose to prove Himself the Mighty God, able to save 
to the uttermost. All other men were bound by death; 
but the Son of God rose for our salvation. The lambs 
on the Judean altars were not able to be more than a 
type of the death of Christ, for, once dead and consumed, 
they never more walked with the flocks from which they 
were taken. But Jesus arose from the ashes of the sacri- 
ficial altar, and walked among the sons of men, and, bid- 



The Lamb of God. 235 

ding them adieu, He went back to the Father above, to 
make intercession, at the capital of the universe, for 
His followers. Can you not trust Him? You need noth- 
ing more than the Son of God for a sin-offering, do you? 
O, He was and is a pure, almighty, devoted, ever-living 
Savior, whom my whole soul not only trusts, but exults 
in! And, with Paul, I would say, God forbid that I 
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! 
Finally, note that 

III. CHRIST IS THE SANCTIFYING REMEDY FOR SIN. 

So many have religion without salvation. Many re- 
ligions offer no salvation from sin. Now, sin is the one 
thing that unfits man for heaven. It nowhere says igno- 
rance, weakness, lack of genius; but only sin. Sin is 
missing the mark. To be dead, is not to live. No one 
can be alive and dead too. So sin is death, and to be 
left in sin, and hope for heaven, is to hope you live while 
death is feasting on you and claiming you for its own. 
Christ comes to destroy death in the soul by taking away 
sin. It is not sins, but sin, the sin-principle in the soul, 
that Christ removes and destroys. Glory! Men differ 
in their outward sins. One drinks, another swears, an- 
other lies, another is cruel, and another has some other 
form of the myriad-shaped sin, but no one says they 
are better because they do not all sin alike. All recog- 
nize the fact that sin is sin, no matter what form it as- 
sumes. So Jesus came to take the very kernel of the 
thing away from the heart, and, as Paul tells us, Christ 
came to destroy sin in the flesh. In our heart the work 
is done, so that no matter what the sin of the victim of 
Satan might have been, it gives way to a new heart; so 
that the appetite for rum is condemned and estranged, 



236 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

just as the love of cards and the dance. God saves us all 
alike, just in the same way, by beginning the work on 
the inside. The pride of the moral man, and the red 
nose of the drunkard, all go together. I seemed to repre- 
sent nearly the whole round of sin, and yet I declare to 
you, the whole brood of sins went when God gave me 
the new nature. Now, the Bible offers us no other sal- 
vation than one from sin. Where can that be found ex- 
cept in Jesus Christ? How the world has vainly tried 
to work up a salvation of some sort! The Mexican sacri- 
fice, the Ganges horrors, the fires of Moloch, have burned 
in many lands. The fastings of good and well-meaning 
men have alike failed. Nowhere can the power of sin 
be broken but at the foot of the Cross. Here the thief 
was set free; here the fallen woman was made right with 
God; here Paul was made a saint and apostle; here the 
swear was taken out of Peter ; here the venom was taken 
out of a million hearts. It has never failed. Will you, 
too, trust the cross of Christ? Yes, trust the Lamb of 
God, and all your sin shall go forever. 

Do not try to help the Son of God to save you by 
adding something else to the cross. It would be like 
hitching a horse to the fast express to help it on; or to 
tie a kite to the eagle's wings to help it to soar; or to 
hang a lantern on the sun to aid it to give light. To 
paint the lily or perfume the rose are much easier justified 
than one single act of righteousness added to grace to 
help save the soul. O, the Mighty Christ is able to save 
now all who come to God by Him! He was offered up 
once for all men, and His offering was perfect and ac- 
ceptable to God. Will it be so to you? 

O, dear ones, neglect the sun, and live in the dark, 
damp air of a cave if you please; neglect food and raiment, 



The Lamb of God. 237 

and hope to live and be well, if you choose; shut the 
fresh air out of your lungs, and the light out of your 
dwellings, and the bread from your board; but do not 
shut your eyes to the Lamb of God, but behold Him! 
O, He stands waiting to be an eternal Friend to you ! Will 
you welcome Him? He is waiting to save you from your 
sins. Will you look to Him, and be clean and pure in 
heart? He is at God's right hand to give you life. Will 
you but accept His offer, and behold Him as your Sacri- 
fice for sin? 

No one ever regretted bestowing a look at the Lamb 
of God, and neither will you, 



XXL 
UNITY OF THE BIBLE. 

DELIVERED AT I,ONG BEACH, DECEMBER 4. 1898. 

"Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven." 
(Ps. cxix, 89.) 

I SHALL deliver this address to all present for general 
helpfulness, but more especially to the class of normal 
Bible students of the town. I can not get out to the 
evening class, and, in looking over the Manual, I see 
room is left for some outside talk on the evidences of 
the Bible as God's Word, so I avail myself of this oppor- 
tunity to say a few things about the Bible that have very 
much interested me in proof of its Divine origin. 

The Bible is the Great Text-book of all teaching on 
moral and spiritual subjects, and we do well to at least 
satisfy ourselves that it rests on a solid foundation. Not 
that men would not worship if the Bible were destroyed, 
for they would, as they have ever worshiped, because it 
is in man to worship. But does the Bible really merit 
the place accorded to it by its friends and the world in 
general? We know that though it has enemies that assail 
its Divine claims, and though it has many friends that 
have no other ground for the reverence for it than tra- 
dition and family respect, who do not know the precious 
treasures of wisdom and knowledge it contains, yet there 
are more Bibles read to-day than any other book in the 
realm of literature, and it has found a place in more 
languages. Still, all this alone would not be sufficient 
to give it the place it claims in my heart and mind. 

238 



Unity of the Bible. 239 

And while to-night my subject is the Unity of the 
Bible, and I shall not be able to handle more than this, 
and, indeed, this only fragmentary, there are many other 
questions concerning the Bible that are of equal impor- 
tance, among which I might mention "Its Inspiration," 
"Its Necessity," "Its Greatness," and "Its Helpfulness" 
to mankind; but these may be considered at some other 
time, the Lord willing. When it is said that the Bible 
is read by more people, prized above all competing vol- 
umes, translated into more different languages, and by 
critics exalted to a place above every other book as the 
Book of God's revealed will to man, it certainly rests on 
a basis broad enough to convince or deceive the world's 
best minds. So I invite your attention to my subject, in 
consideration of which, as the first point of evidence for 
its Divine claims, I will mention the fact of 

I. ITS STRUCTURAL UNITY. 

We must remember, in the outset, that the Bible con- 
tains over sixty different pamphlets, or smaller books, 
written, over a space of about fifteen hundred years, by 
forty different hands, in many different lands, and under 
many different circumstances, and yet it has a linked one- 
ness that makes it one Book. There is a cathedral in 
Milan, Italy, that has been five hundred years in build- 
ing, yet all its parts contribute to its completeness, use- 
fulness, and symmetry, and only one answer can be given 
for the phenomena, and that is, that it was planned, at 
the first, by one mind. Just so with the Bible, with its 
variant writers and different lands and ages, it is one 
Book because planned by one Author. And under this 
head, I w T ill mention, as some marks of its structural 
unity: From Genesis to Revelation it is a Book of 



240 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

miracles for the benefit of mankind in general, and the 
Jews in particular. Eighty-two miracles in the Old Tes- 
tament, thirty-six or thirty-seven in the New Testament, 
all show it is on the same plan of the supernatural. 

The general divisions of the Old and New Testaments 
are identical. Each begins with history, succeeded by 
doctrine, and concludes with prophecy. Each division 
instructs the head, warms the heart, and nerves the hand. 

The aim of the Book is one in both Testaments, being 
that of the moral elevation of the race. No matter where 
you study the Bible, this question is ever uppermost and 
in the front of all others. It never loses sight of its theme, 
and however it seems to any mind, it only proves that 
the eye has not been accustomed to the varied beauties 
of the wonderful Volume. 

Once more, it, in all its parts, is adapted to the race 
of man the world over, and, though it has been written 
in the Orient, its pages are plain and precious in the 
Occident, and from pole to pole its truth has a practical 
value. This is surely strange, if not so designed. And 
whether it be Genesis or Revelation, or any book between, 
the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the great 
and the small, can all find comfort and instruction in its 
precious pages. And while some of it is so old, and none 
young like the last fashionable novel of society, yet it 
is ever modern, and appeals to all the better in man. 

Sir Walter Scott, when about to die, said, "Bring me 
the Book." "What book?" asked Lockhart. "The 
Book — the Bible — there is but one Book." 

The longest telegraph message ever sent over the 
wires was the part of the New Testament from Matthew 
to Romans, a message of one hundred and eighteen 
thousand words. 



Unity of the Bible. 241 

II. ITS HISTORIC UNITY. 

The Jew is the central figure of all revelation. His 
origin, development, apostasy, God's discipline, his in- 
grafting at last, and his final salvation, are the burden of 
the history of the whole Bible. This one theme runs in 
every book, and while the Gentiles are saved and the 
children of God, the Jew was the foundation of all theo- 
cratic government and Divine worship, and through the 
Jews we have the Bible and the Redeemer, and the world 
will finally have the gospel. 

III. ITS DISPKNSATIONAL. UNITY IS APPARENT. 

The Lord has given the world seven dispensations in 
order to reclaim man from the effect of the fall into which 
sin has precipitated him. The first was the golden age 
in Eden, when the garden of the Lord was fitted up for 
the habitation of the first man and woman; no good 
thing was denied them, all their wants were supplied, 
and they had the proprietorship of the whole creation if 
they needed it. It was a time and age when God did for 
man all that was in His great, loving heart. The next 
dispensation was the antediluvian, or man outside of 
Eden, with his tears wiped away, as we read in Milton's 
dream, because God had promised them something worth 
living for. They multiplied and increased, and became 
a great people; and while little in the Bible is said about 
the dealings of God with man during this period, yet, 
from the fact of men increasing their religious zeal, as 
seen in the story of Enoch, there is a strong probability 
that God did hold communion with man, and gave him 
much to be grateful for. The next dispensation was that 
of the Noachian, when God appeared to him in much 
16 



242 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

mercy, and saved his life and that of his family. The 
next was the Abrahamic, when God called Abraham out 
of the Ur of the Chaldees to be a father of a great nation. 
The next was when God called Moses to found a great 
nation, and gave them the law and the tabernacle, etc. 
The next was the dispensation of the Son, and we are in, 
at this time, the dispensation of the Spirit. Now the 
unity of the Bible is seen in the fact that, though there 
have been so many efforts on the part of God for man, 
yet they all began, progressed, and ended in the very 
same way. In the opening, we note the interposition of 
God and the gift of added light, except in Eden, where 
it was all given for the first time; then followed a season 
of prosperity and a wide civilization, indifference to Di- 
vine obligation; then apostasy, and, finally, a wreck and 
utter failure. All the dispensations have thus commenced 
and concluded except this one, that is yet incomplete, 
and in all points like the others, except the end and ruin. 
Now, this is very remarkable when we consider that six 
thousand years have glided by since the first in Eden. 
No set of men could have been found that would or could 
write history with the uniformity and precision that we 
see in these facts. Sure, God ordered all the dispensa- 
tions and superintended the record of them in this blessed 
Book. 

IV. THE NEXT THING IS PROPHETIC UNITY. 

All prophecy points to one thing, and that is the gov- 
ernment of this world under a kingdom with a godly 
King. This was God's idea in Adam. He failed. Then 
came the first prophecy of the seed of the woman bruising 
the serpent's head. And from that first prophecy to the 
last in Revelation, the entire scope of prophecy points 
to the one thing, the Divine Ideal. 



Unity of the Bible. 



243 



Christ was to come as a King, and so He claimed, 
and was so crucified. David's, or the theocratic reign of 
Jehovah, of which David was the first representative, 
was to be perpetual and absolute. The kingdom was to 
be universal. And who, living at the time when the 
prophecies were made, could for a moment imagine that 
the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands, 
would fill the whole earth, especially when we remember 
that the four greatest world powers had to give way to 
make it a possibility? The Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, 
Grecian, and the Roman were all to come to an end. The 
Tigris was to overflow, and the Euphrates was to dry 
up to accomplish the purpose of God, and these things — 
two wonderful events — actually took place, and reached 
the end of prophecy. And once more, from Genesis to 
Revelation the hope of the world is set forth in a Coming 
One, so that the unity is seen in 

V. THE MESSIANIC UNITY. 

Christ, the Anointed, is the spirit and kernel of 
prophecy. It is not law, nor culture, nor development, 
nor evolution, nor philosophy, but the coming of the Son 
of God that is seen from the beginning to the end of the 
Bible. And in these many prophecies, six hundred and 
sixty-six (666), three hundred and thirty-three refer to 
the blessed Jesus. From His birth to His burial and 
resurrection, not one thing in His life has failed the 
prophetic ken, even to the dividing of His garments and 
casting lots for His woven vesture. 

And it is a significant fact that they all, three hun- 
dred and thirty-three, harmonize in presenting Him in 
the light of a complete Redeemer. 

The supernatural and Divine show on every lineament 



244 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

of the prophetic photograph of the Wonderful Man. of 
redemption power. 

A Universal Man, that would be alike loved in every 
land by every nation as their own loving Savior, be- 
cause He was universal. Luther was German; Calvin, 
French; Knox, Scotch; Edwards, American; but Christ 
was to be the world's Man, at home in every land, in the 
heart of the worshiper. 

He was to draw all nations to Him, as against the 
old Jewish exclusiveness, and be the Universal Monarch. 

He was to be despised, and a Man of sorrows, and 
the occasion of great commotions in the earth. Now, 
how strange that, in all the writing of the Bible, they 
perfectly dovetail to draw the photo of the Messiah! 

VI. THE UNITY IS SCIENTIFIC. 

It pursues the one invariable method in all the refer- 
ences to subjects scientific from beginning to end. As 
to its scientific language, it is popular and elastic. As 
to its conceptions, they are practical and correct when 
known. As to its importance, it is relegated to a second- 
ary place. God, in a few short chapters, tells all the 
story of the creation, but takes all the others, more or 
less entirely, to tell of redemption through the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And yet in science, when facts are removed from 
the realm of conjecture, not one scientific fact disproves 
the inerrant claims of the Bible. And, indeed, when we 
study the Bible with reference to science, we marvel 
how it ever presents so much scientific truth in a simple 
way, in popular language, when it does not profess to 
teach science. 

How grand and accurate is the statement of creation 
into periods that in number correspond with the most 
advanced cosmogonies! 



Unity of the Bible. 



245 



How the order of creation, from fish up, corresponds 
to what has been proven facts by experience! The brain's 
ratio to the spinal cord is in exact harmony with God's 
order of creation: Fish, 2 of brain to 1 of spinal cord; 
reptiles, 2 to y 2 ; birds, 3 to 1 ; mammals, 4 to 1 ; and man, 
33 to I. Is not this marvelous? 

The world was said, by old philosophers, to rest on 
great columns, or on the back of a great turtle that, in 
turn, rested on a great serpent, or to rest on the backs 
of elephants, the shaking of whose heads caused the 
terrible earthquakes. But Job, one of the oldest books, 
says that God has hung the world on nothing. And 
Moses, in speaking of the sky, called it by the name of 
a Hebrew word, the exact rendering of which is expanse. 
How significant, when the ancients called the heavens 
a solid expanse! 

Then, many of the old astronomers estimated the 
stars as a thousand, twelve thousand, or fourteen thou- 
sand, but Moses said they were more than can be num- 
bered; just what modern astronomy says about it as 
revealed by the telescope. 

Plato, and many others of the ancient wise, said the 
world was a spirit; the stars, vapor of fire, that was ex- 
tinguished by day; and gave many estimates of the sum 
and substance of the sun and moon. Why do n't Moses 
and the other Bible writers? Who kept them from it? 
Moses was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians, 
yet he never expresses those fanatical guesses in the Bible. 

Then, with regard to government. Where did the 
lawgiver get that old law in the Ten Commandments, 
that, to this day, is the substance of all that Blackstone, 
Kent, Story, and all the whole array of legal worthies 
have written on this all-important subject? How is it 
that the Romans, who idealized law, and wrote their 



246 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

laws at a much later date, and, no doubt, borrowed from 
nations about them, had their law changed by the in- 
herent power of the laws of our Bible? How is it that 
England, and every other great, prosperous nation, as- 
cribe their success to the laws of God in this Book, as 
Queen Victoria told the African princess? Why, be- 
cause it is Divine. 

In architecture, John Ruskin, the greatest authority 
on the subject, has said that the Temple of Solomon on 
Moriah was the parent and antitype of all Grecian art, 
w T hile the primitive colors mentioned in the Bible are the 
basis of all colors. 

But with regard to the care of the body in sickness 
and health, the greatest wisdom and unity are seen. No 
experiments with the lance in blood-letting, as doctors 
have done for hundreds of years, that killed George 
Washington, James Sherwood, and a whole array of 
others, for the Bible says the blood is the life, and now, 
at last, doctors have found it so, and no more bleeding, 
but they try to make blood. And Solomon said, Out of 
the heart are the issues of life; and twenty-five hundred 
years before Harvey pointed out the circulation of the 
blood, Solomon, in Ecclesiastes, called the heart the wheel 
at the cistern. How did they all so agree so far in advance 
of their time? And yet, the Bible is no text-book on 
science. Just one answer: It has had one Author, who 
wrote it all, and knew all about what He was writing. 
Amen and Amen! But before I leave this subject, allow 
me to point out one or two other items of interest on this 
same line. After more than two thousand years, the 
world has learned to treat leprosy just as Moses did at 
the first, by isolation. And then, after six thousand years, 
the medical profession has learned how to put men to 



Unity of the Bible. 247 

sleep for surgical operation, as God did Adam away back 
there in Eden. How did Moses dare to say Adam could 
sleep while God took a rib out of his side, for that would 
wake most men? Why, because God said it, and Moses 
simply recorded the fact. But now all the doctors are 
on the same line. Wonderful old Book, this! And yet 
it does not essay to teach the minor things. 

VII. THK SYMBOLIC UNITY OF THE BIBLE. 

Its colors are ever mentioned in connection with the 
same ideas: White is ever holiness, purity. Lustrous 
white — Glory! Red, sin and atonement; blue, devotion 
and loyalty; purle, divinity; black, guilt and judgment; 
while pale ever portrays death. Now, where colors are 
used as symbols, this is the invariable significance at- 
tached to them. 

Then, numbers have their significance: 1 is ever 
unity; 2 represents co-operation and decision; 3 is di- 
vinity; 4 represents man and the world; 7 represents the 
sum of God and man in redemption; 10 is completeness; 
12, the product of 3 and 4, the Divine interpreting the 
human; 3^ is tribulation; 6 is conflict; while 8, the other 
side of redemption number, represents victory. Now, 
the fact that these numbers are ever used, from first to 
last in the Bible for the same idea, shows the origin of 
the symbol to be One Mind. 

VIII. ITS DIDACTIC UNITY, OR DOCTRINAL UNITY. 

A few words on this line will suffice. The Bible ever 
represents man as an habitual sinner, prone to evil as 
the sparks fly upwards ; and ever shows sin to be a great 
crime against God. It shows holiness as something grand 
and imperative in its demand on sinful man. And the 



248 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

atonement, that the Bible on its many hundred pages sets 
forth over against sin, is complete, sufficient, obligatory, 
and vicarious. Now, these lines of thought, the kernel 
of all practical theology, never vary in any place or page 
of all the Bible. Theories of schools may change, philos- 
ophies change, but the Bible is the same. 

IX. THE UNITY IS ORGANIC, OR CONSTITUTIONAL. 

We have a whole Bible for a whole heart, for a whole 
race, for a whole salvation, for a whole eternity. And 
while it contains so much history, philosophy, economics, 
science, and general culture as auxiliary to the great 
theme of salvation, it all harmonizes and dovetails to- 
gether to form a compact whole that no part can be left 
out without doing the Volume violence. 

Then, what is the inevitable conclusion? That it has 
but one Author, who knows all the truth; and but one 
aim, that must be finally realized ; and but one use, to be 
loved and read, that no one can slight and be innocent. 
Thank God for the Bible, for the whole Bible, for my 
Bible! 

It is said that a gentleman, in conversation with a 
lady upon the subject of certain of the utterances of the 
poet Browning, insisted that his interpretation of the 
poet was correct, because he was a friend of Browning 
and enjoyed his personal acquaintance. Afterward, he 
chaffed the lady for her faith in the Scriptures, which he 
said were childish and unmeaning. "But you forget," 
was the reply, "that I am acquainted with the Author." 
It is this acquaintance with God that makes His Word 
so true, so precious, so comforting, to the devout be- 
liever. If we know God, we shall surely recognize His 
Word. 



XXII. 
PERFECT LOVE. 

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have 
boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are 
we in this world." (i John iv, 17.) 

~F HE writer of these words is called the loving disciple. 
And if we notice the plea he makes for love, we shall 
see nothing but love to all men as the object of his ex- 
hortation. Love is to do us good, to befriend us, to meet 
a great want, so he, the loving disciple, can exhort us 
to love very consistently. 

In no literature in the world is the word love so prom- 
inent as in the Bible. Nor is there any such picture of 
love given in the world's great literature as we find in the 
First Epistle to the Corinthians. And I think it equally 
true, that in no literature can there be found so many 
examples of love as in the Scriptures. I have also ob- 
served that the Bible gives love the first place of all the 
good qualities of character. Lastly, I am sure I can say 
that in no book but the Bible is a way pointed out to all 
by which they may have this great heaven-born emotion. 
Christianity is a religion of love. The Bible not only 
assures us of the greatness of love, but also makes it 
equally emphatic that we may all obtain it. It not only 
lauds it, but goes a step further, and positively informs 
all that, regardless of their other excellencies, if they lack 
love, they lack all. And though one could render the 
highest service of toil ; or could contribute immense sums 

249 



250 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

of wealth ; or had the greatest gifts in the Church, if they 
had not love, they would be as nothing. Now we have 
anthems sung in praise of wisdom, beauty, and might; 
devoted to power, to eloquence, culture, and art ; we even 
have religions that exalt various traits as the ideal that 
are only of a worldly character; but the religion of Jesus 
is a religion of love. 

God is a God of love. When the Holy Spirit wanted 
to give the final name to the Father of all, He not only 
called Him Father, but He is called Love. How many 
have tried to determine what God is ! The different 
notions of God, so coarse and conflicting, all fall infinitely 
short of the definition given in the Bible. The Bible 
does not say that God is an Influence, or that God is a 
Power, or that God is Wisdom, or that He is Beauty, 
though He possesses all these attributes ; but it says God 
is Love. Glory! As an exhortation, nothing can be 
stronger than that very statement. If God is love, all 
who would do well and live right will aspire also to be 
possessed of this grace. 

And once again, allow me to say that not only is love 
the theme of the Bible, but God in all His dealings with 
man endeavors to develop this indispensable trait of the 
holy life in all His children. When leading Israel out of 
Egypt, He brought them up to the Red Sea, and there, 
walled in on all sides by rocks, a surging sea, and in the 
rear by the most bloodthirsty army that ever sought the 
life of mortal man, and at that juncture, when all hope was 
cut off, the loving God interposed in their behalf, and, 
parting the sea, sent them to their new home dry-shod. 
And as He led them into Canaan by His fiery pillar of 
cloud, providing them manna and quail, splitting the flinty 
rock for their drink, though they rebelled against Him 



Perfect Love. 251 

the long forty years, He gave them His care and love. 
When He crowned Sinai with His presence, and so ter- 
rible was the presence that nothing could live and touch 
the mount, He gave them the best code of morals the 
world has ever seen upon tables of stone. He gave them 
the grandest system of worship, and the most magnificent 
temple the world has ever seen. He gave them a gov- 
ernment that was of His own ordering, all to foster their 
love. Yes, He commanded them to love Him with all 
their hearts. Finally gave the lesson of the Cross, that 
speaks in strains of eloquence no tongue can imitate. 
What does all this mean but that He seeks to perfect us 
in love more than in any other thing? If He simply 
wanted to rule over a great nation that would serve Him 
in some sense less than love, He might have made re- 
ligion so invariably accompanied with temporal blessing, 
and the reverse so invariably followed by a curse, that all 
would fear to live other than a religious life. But not so. 
He made religion to hinge on love and free-will, and He 
asks for the whole heart of men, which means love to 
Him and all His creatures. So allow me to ask your 
attention to this highest grace in several of its aspects. 

1. note: its force. 

This is the foe of all fear. We all know what fear 
is to the sinner by a sad experience, for we have all, to 
some extent, walked in the ways of sin enough to know 
the shadow of fear that ever follows the sinner's wake. 
He is afraid of himself. He sees character weakening, 
and the inroads sin is making in his life. He fears the 
wiles of the devil, not knowing to what length he may 
yet be led. Not all sinners so feel. But many do, and 
have expressed themselves to me as trembling with a 



252 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

sense of danger that ever seems imminent. He is afraid 
of the judgment of righteousness. He knows, or at least 
fears, all his sins, long since committed, and many of 
them forgotten, will find him then, and the awful thought 
that he can't there get away from them. He is afraid of 
God. Instead of being comforted with the thought of 
an Almighty Being, all-seeing and all-knowing, he fears 
nothing so much as he does the Eternal God. So some 
believers, or those who have believed to the forgiveness 
of sins, if becoming careless and have failed to go on 
to this happy goal of perfect love, have some of these 
fears; of course, not so sharp and harrowing as when 
impenitent; but the fear, after all, that they have not 
done their whole duty, and they fear the record and the 
judgment. They also have fears of this life. They fear, 
after all, that they may yet fall away ; that they may yet 
forget their God ; that they may be tempted beyond their 
power to endure ; that they may not be greeted with the 
"Well done" of infinite importance and moment. O, how 
fearful are many dear hearts ! Fear of the providences of 
God, fearful of the truth of God, and often run away from 
plain preaching and piercing truth; fearful of standing 
with God, so much so that their prayers are ever one 
continual petition for help and rest, instead of praising 
God for victory and deliverance. 

Now, the text assures us that love casts all this fear 
and fearfulness out, and we have peace with God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the peace of God reigns and 
rules in our souls. When we have the conscious love of 
God in our hearts ; when we have His presence, so sweet 
and comforting, as a perennial spring, welling up in our 
hearts, we can not fear Him. All fear of Him is gone, 
and we look to Him with a warmth of heart that is not 



Perfect Love. 



253 



to be compared to any earthly love. He is now our 
Father, and cares for His child; He is now our Ishi, 
Lover, and is all the world to us ; he is now our Husband 
and Protector, and we care not what any shall do unto 
us. There is a love in Christianity that makes God so 
real and precious, that men and women have gladly gone 
to the stake, rather than say or do anything that would 
mar its presence in the soul. This relation of love to God 
makes the judgment a thing of the past. If God deigns 
to dwell in our hearts, if the Almighty now lives with us 
consciously by faith in Christ; if we can hear His voice 
speaking to us in comforting tones, we do not fear the 
judgment, as it is already past, since God now has wel- 
comed us to Himself. We then do not fear the provi- 
dences, or duties, or difficulties of life, for if He that 
stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee, if he who fed the 
thousands of hungry with a little bread and fish; if He 
that anointed the disciples with the Holy Ghost on the 
day of Pentecost, abides with us, we know we shall not 
lack any good thing. So we sing as we go, "Here I '11 
raise my Ebenezer." The plain truths have already done 
so much for us in giving us such a blessed experience, 
we covet to know the whole will of God, whatever that 
may be. Glory ! 

Its force is seen in adjusting us rightly to our fellow- 
men. We are not afraid of them. It does not always 
affect them, and the devil is still unconverted, so that 
he will behave very much as he did, if not worse; but 
we are changed with this love in our hearts, and all that 
man can do will but draw a prayer from us for his souFs 
good. We will not fear man's overreaching tendency in 
business. We will be honest — honest! — and we will leave 
the other fellow in the hands of the blessed Lord, who 



254 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

somehow will manage him. Well, suppose he will kill 
all your chickens, or allow his chickens to overrun your 
garden and destroy all your summer's work; or suppose 
he will go to a neighbor and tell a lie about you? We '11 
leave him with the Lord, and we will treat him nice, for 
there is no hate or malice in our hearts toward him or 
any one. And besides, we gave up all this world to get 
saved, and now if we can get him saved by losing a little 
of the things that we are merely using while on our way 
to glory, we will gladly do it. Just settle down to love all 
our enemies to death. It can be done. However, if some 
seem to have the fabled nine lives, and in spite of our 
love, live on in hatefulness and wickedness, we have been 
fortified with the love that Jesus bore to the crucifiers, 
and we just ask the Lord to forgive them. O, there is a 
place we can inhabit, where all the little vexations and 
trials of life amount to nothing but mists ! Mists they 
may be, and for a time seem to hide the heavens over our 
head ; but as mist they are brushed away by the faintest 
breath of prayer, and once more the unclouded sun is 
shining on us, as he has been ever shining above us. We 
do not fear man; we now love him and are willing to 
endure something that he might be saved. Once a man 
in a revival-meeting hit me with his fist. The officer 
wanted to arrest him. I said : "No, let us love him to 
death;" and we did. The meeting closed, and all went 
home. The next night came ; he was on hand ; I shook 
hands with him, and said nothing to him about his fist. 
The meeting opened and the altar service came, and to 
the joy of all he was among the penitents at the altar, or 
in the front of the meeting. Glory! Since that time I 
am never afraid of violence ; but have sometimes hoped 
I could stir up people to show what was in their hearts, 



Perfect Love. 255 

believing if they could see it in an act they would find a 
place to pray. 

We have no fear about the work God asks us to do. 
We may be timid and our hearts may throb a little ; but 
"fear we can not know." We know He that has called 
us will give us the grace and anointing for the service, 
and hail all effort with pleasure. Before we get perfect 
love, all pride and all self-seeking are cast overboard, and 
we are willing to be nothing, that Christ may be all. So 
when service is presented, we are not fearful of failing; 
for if failure will be more to the glory of the Lord, we 
want to fail. My sister spoke to me when I began my 
ministry, that if God did n't want me to preach, I would 
just fail ; then I could come home. But the thought of 
failing was so harrowing to my proud heart that I re- 
belled. What ! me fail? Why, the thought of it ! How 
ridiculous ! Now I often say : Lord, if I can serve Thee 
best by failing, let me fail ; for to serve Thee I am minded, 
and no matter how it is done. And measured by earthly 
standards, my own at least, I am so accustomed to fail- 
ing that it is now no cross, and becomes just one more of 
the all things that are sure to work together for good. 
Glory! Not that a man will want any low standard of 
ministerial efficiency, not at all ; but after having done his 
best to pray and think and study a text to know the 
truth of it or its inner meaning, if he then is called upon 
to preach, and after all does it poorly, it is all well, thank 
God! for this possible experience. Some preach their 
sermons three times — a long time before in getting ready ; 
all the time they are at it, instead of letting the Holy 
Ghost do it ; and ever after in fretting, because it was not 
better. So you see them ever like a hot axle without oil, 
grinding and hot, and sometimes casting up a great deal 



256 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

of smoke. Sad case ! The sermon or the testimony is 
not now the end of speaking ; but the good that God can 
do with it. And right here let me say, as I might be 
speaking to some who are called to preach, that if your 
motives are pure, and you are filled with love, perfect 
love — and, of course, you wish to preach for God's glory 
only — you can not put too much work on your sermons ; 
the more, the better. If you hope God to use the effort 
you are to make, and you are willing to put all you have 
and are into it, do not think the Lord will be grieved if 
you study on the text with reference to preaching it. 
But remember if, after you have studied for a week or 
even a month on a text, and you get on your feet to use 
it, and the Lord takes it all away and gives you another, 
that is His wise way of doing. I find that the motive 
with the Lord is much more than the method. Perfect 
love will not fret when a sermon is prepared, if the Lord 
shelves it for a time ; neither will it complain if, after all 
time and labor spent on it, it is never delivered. But be 
sure, other things being equal, the more time honestly 
spent on a subject, the better will it be when its time 
comes. But success never puffs up the man of perfect 
love; neither will the reverse puff him down, so fear of 
vanity and failure is alike cut off. 

Perfect love adjusts us rightly to the world about 
us. How many are justly afraid of the hold the world 
has on them ! The world is on hand, and often in the 
heart too; and the query often — O how often! — comes, 
"How far can I safely go in this or that pursuit? How 
can I do business, and yet keep clean ? How can I com- 
mingle with the people I daily meet, and yet be all the 
Lord wants me to be?" These perplexing questions and 
problems meet us, and will not down; and the man 



Perfect Love. 



257 



or woman who has never had these things to confront 
knows but little of Divine things. But the experience 
of perfect love coming into our hearts helps mightily 
to solve all this difficulty, and makes it altogether a mat- 
ter of cloud above our head or dust under our feet — 
its weight is all gone. As the magnet, passed through 
a pan of particles of metals, naturally attracts to itself 
all thing of affinity, to the exclusion of the dirt, so 
the love in our hearts so constantly inclines us to the 
eternal things above, that we find these things sticking, 
while the dust and dirt of earth as naturally fall away. 
Or, to use another figure : The love of God in our souls 
seems to insulate or disenchant us from earth's toys and 
treasures, so that while we pass through the world, we 
find our Savior's prayer has been answered for us ; and, 
indeed, though in the world, we are not of the world, 
and pass through it as the electric current does along 
the wires, free from all outside influences; so that we 
are as safe in the world as a fish in the water or a bird 
in the air. Glory! Or, again, it is as an anchor to the 
soul if the winds and storms of earth's tendencies beat 
upon us. "We seem very much as others about us; but 
deep down and out of sight, and beneath the surface, 
we have an anchor that holds to the throne of the In- 
finite; that, while others drift here and there, and once 
in awhile lose their bearing, we are steady; and, though 
the waves roll and the breakers roar, we remain stead- 
fastly anchored to our Rock of Ages, and can sing, — 

" No storm can shake our inmost calm 
While to the Refuge clinging." 

And whether it is a David Livingstone in Africa among 
the darkened heathen ; or Paul at Ephesus, fighting with 
17 



258 Word and AVork of David J. Lewis. 

the beasts ; or dear old John on Patmos ; or some martyr 
dying, like Hugh Latimer, for the gospel, we are more 
than conquerors. Yes, bless God, this love is a life in 
us, a shield on us, and an anchor to us to our eternal 
safety. "No fear," that is the key-note. God calls us to 
live for Him in this world, and has given us a salva- 
tion adapted to all the needs of the soul, and when we 
get in possession of it, and keep it in good repair, or keep 
it rilled — for, as water, there is a constant evaporation 
going on — we can laugh at all imps and claim immunity. 
Yes, the apex is reached in the words, "As He is in the 
world, so are we." Christ was victor in all things, so are 
we. Was Christ able for all things? So are we. Did 
Christ do the will of the Father? So can we. Did He 
prove a blessing to the world? So shall we. Did He 
endure unto the end ? So shall we. As He is, so are we, 
praise the Lord! O, what a sentence! and all that it 
means to any one, it can mean to you, my brother. 

11. note: the: fountain. 

In the preceding verse we read, "He that dwelleth in 
love, God dwelleth in him." This links love and God in 
oneness in the soul. God is love, and all love comes from 
Him. Perfect love is God enthroned in the heart without 
a rival. This answers all our fears of being able, for 
where God is, there He is in all His divinity. God is not 
divided into pieces ; but is a unit ; and while God does 
come so close to us that the influence of His presence 
is manifestly felt, and does for us all that we will permit 
Him to do, yet He can come into the soul in all His 
wonderful fullness. This is holy ground ; this should not 
be spoken only with reverence. This is the very atmos- 
phere of heaven, the breath and being of Him whose 



Perfect Love. 



259 



name is too sacred to mention. He it is that is the Foun- 
tain of the perfect love in our souls. 

As a fountain, He is inexhaustible. King James of 
England promised more money than he found he was 
able to bestow. Napoleon promised more to his soldiers 
than he was able to fulfill. Our love is ever betraying us 
into obligations to loved ones, if only in desire, that we 
find we can not make good; but the Almighty has no 
limit to His resources. We have a limit to our conception 
of His wealth. I know something of what the cattle on a 
thousand hills mean; but really, I know nothing of what 
the fullness of the earth expresses, though that, too, is 
the Lord's. But what is His riches in glory, what is His 
"all things," or what some other expressions of His riches 
mean, I can not conceive; but I do know that He pos- 
sesses all things, and in Christ those all things are mine. 
Now, there is no limit to His power to bestow on us the 
priceless blessing of love. The sun will run itself into 
night some day for the want of fuel; the mighty ocean 
and sea shall dry up some day for the want of moisture, as 
other planets have done ; the very heaven shall roll up as 
a scroll and be done away; but the Lord's provision of 
love is abiding. 

Now, we need love for the unlovable ; can God sup- 
ply? I see Jesus the Son of God enduring all that any 
man can ever be expected to go through, and His love 
never failed Him. Look at Him outside of Jerusalem, 
knowing they were going to reject and crucify Him, 
knowing they were then, at that very moment, thirsting 
for His heart's blood ; yet hear His plaintive words, "O 
Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how often would I have gathered 
you as a hen doth her brood! but ye would not," while 
the tears coursed down His pale cheeks. And, again, 



260 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

when He was on the cruel sticks of the cross, and the 
executioners were doing their cruel work of piercing His 
hands and feet with spikes, He said, "Father, forgive 
them, they know not what they do." Then let us look at 
Stephen, who, when he was stoned to death by the cruel 
mob, prayed for their pardon. Look at Paul, laboring 
for those that had nothing but curses and chains for 
him; and, indeed, all the apostles' work for the many 
who suspected and even hated them, yet they worked 
on, caring for nothing but to impart to them the same 
love that had never failed them. How could this be 
possible? Simply because God's love is inexhaustible. 
You can not bail the ocean with a bucket; you can not 
exhaust the air with your lungs ; you can not peer beyond 
the domain of the Almighty as you lift your eyes to 
heaven ; neither can you ever exhaust the love that God, 
the Infinite God, has to place in your heart. There is no 
limit to it. Bless the Lord ! 

Then the Lord is omnipresent. He is at hand in the 
time of temptation. In the time of need, He is ever pres- 
ent. You can not get away from the atmosphere if you 
stay on top of the earth; and as the mighty oceans lave 
every shore, as the atmosphere girdles every land, so the 
Almighty is ever present to fill and comfort those who 
have fled for refuge to lay hold of eternal life and love. 
He is just the same in the workshop as in the prayer- 
meeting; He is as near the cook-stove as the meeting- 
house register ; He is with those who trust Him with the 
fidelity that followed the Israelites through the wilder- 
ness. His pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night 
failed them never. He was with them when they waked 
and when they slept. The Lord was called Israel's un- 
slumbering Shepherd by those who knew Him and His 



Perfect Love. 261 

power to save. For He never leaves the sheep of His 
fold, even when they are all asleep. Now, if the Lord 
was confined to any particular place; if He was excluded 
by any physical limitation from small corners of life, then 
we might fear that after all His great store, we might 
come short. No, brother, He is in your heart the Ever- 
blessed, Allwise, Almighty God that has undertaken 
for you. 

This suggests another attribute of the Lord. He 
knows all about us, and every want to Him is as open 
as a book. He knows all we know about ourselves, and 
then all we do not know. He knows our weak points, 
He makes them strong. He knows where we fail the 
easiest, and right there He sets up special provisions. 
He knows the temptations that come to us before we do, 
and He undertakes to supply our need. He knows the 
world of men ; He knows the world of work ; He knows 
the world of worries ; He knows all, and He will supply 
all our needs. 

Ah ! yes ; we shall be in our souls as a watered garden. 
The fountain ever flowing, and the garden ever green. 
While others fail in their love because of the limitations 
of an empty heart, we shall flourish like the palm-tree 
in this priceless character of love. What does love ac- 
complish where it is in its native element? What will a 
mother's love do for a child? a bridegroom for his bride? 
We all know that there is no limit to the efforts of this 
true love. Now, God puts His Divine love in our souls 
by His own presence, so that it will be as natural for us 
to love all mankind as for a mother to love her child. 
God in us, for us, fills us with the same love He manifests 
flowing out to all His creatures. It is no effort to love ; 
no warfare to keep down hate ; no reluctance in showing 



262 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

people we love them. No, now love is the nature of our 
lives. What is in, comes out, is a law experienced by all. 
When hate is in, it comes out; if not in word, in look. 
When envy is in, it comes out in some way or other, 
even though the victim of this loathsome disease may 
not be conscious of it. When love of gain is in, it comes 
out in wishing for good bargains, big profits, and guile- 
less patrons or liberal gifts. The greed of the heart finds 
expression because it is there ; so when God has brought 
love into our hearts, it comes out in our lives. 

III. ITS FULLNESS. 

It is the only perfection we shall ever know. In the 
Sermon on the Mount, when our Lord exhorted the dis- 
ciples to perfection, it was the perfection of love. Many 
seek the perfection of learning, perfection of the head 
instead of the heart. Many would like to be perfect in 
judgment and in a thousand other things. But nowhere 
in the Bible is there a promise for any such perfection. 
Nor is there anywhere in the Bible a demand for a per- 
fection of the head. No ; but we are commanded to be 
perfect in love. Now, if this is the only perfection we 
may ever know here below, how important it is that we 
each seek to be thus made perfect! 

Its standpoint is the highest expression of life. Even 
evolutionists from their standpoint say that love was the 
last evolved. But I do not believe in evolution; at all 
events, it has not brought forth the proof that my mind 
asks in order to give the free assent of my judgment. 
But love is put the highest by science and revelation. 
Paul says the greatest of all is love. Power has been the 
god of more men than any other thing or attribute. How 
men crave power! How kings have shed blood of mill- 



Perfect Love. 263 

ions for its possession! Many men have coveted wealth, 
and almost all things unmentionable, in preference to this 
priceless boon, just because they did neither understand 
nor appreciate it. But if love were taken out of the 
Church ; if love could be blotted from the history of the 
past, with all its deeds, who would have wished to have 
lived in the past? Go to the records of any race, and it 
has ever been the love element that figured as the highest 
expression of their worth. But this love is Divine, re- 
moving it as much above the natural love as Divinity is 
above humanity. 

It is great, because it fulfills the law and is the bond 
of perfectness. That is why it is Divine. Natural love 
will love the lovable and those who love us; but this love 
loves the unkind, the unthankful, the ungrateful, the re- 
vengeful, the injurious enemy. As God loved the world 
and gave His Son for it, this will love the world and give 
its services for it. It can forgive an injury that is not 
confessed and atoned for. It can be kind to those who 
in every way have forfeited a claim upon our love. It 
never faileth. It worketh no ill to its neighbor, but ever 
works good. As God has given his sun to warm the 
field of the wicked, and caused His rain to fall upon the 
seed of the sinful, so we will be good in our way, and 
hold no grudge against any one that lives. It fulfills 
the whole law. If we can not preach, we can love. If 
we can not go to India or Africa, we can love the be- 
nighted. If we can not give a million, we can give what 
we can, and that, the love of a heart full of love. O, 
what a world this would be if love dominated the lives 
of all men! How it would close the courts of law! How 
it would empty the prisons of criminals! How it would 
feed the hungry and clothe the naked! How it would 



264 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

begin heaven here below! God says it is the end of the 
law. Now, how comforting to know that we have, in 
our own hearts, that which gives us the character that 
will never know the judgment-bar of a criminal! 

It gives us full assurance. John said we "know we 
have passed from death unto life because we love the 
brethren." Not because we know our creed, nor because 
we can preach, nor because we are in the Church. No; 
but because we love. Now this is the assurance of the 
soul that gives it boldness in the day of judgment. The 
man that loves, helps those he can. He forgives, and 
God forgives him. He has been merciful, and shall ob- 
tain mercy. He has been a peacemaker, and shall have 
eternal peace. He has labored for the welfare of his 
fellow-men, and shall enter into the finished labor of 
the Divine Redeemer of souls. He has Christ enthroned 
in his soul, and, at the end of life, he simply goes to be 
with the Occupant of his own heart. He takes heaven with 
him where he goes, and as he goes to the eternal world, 
he has heaven at hand all the way. Now, am I over- 
drawing this? I think not, for the apostle says we shall 
have boldness in the day of judgment. He is ready for 
heaven at any time, since he has lived the life of heaven 
here below. He knows no hate, nor envy, nor jealousy, 
nor ease-loving. O, how it takes the self-love and self- 
life and self-longing out of our hearts, and gives us the 
sweet calm of heaven in our souls, that makes it a luxury 
to do and dare for the sake of Him who died for us! 

It is magnifying the center of existence. It is mak- 
ing soul-capacity for ourselves. The heart, or love, is 
the man; all else is but the supplement of the heart. God 
asks for the heart, not head, not hands. He asks for the 
heart — the love — for that is the man. All we are is but 



Perfect Love. 265 

the shadow which our hearts cast. God comes, in love, 
to give us more heart, more being. As love is the cen- 
ter of all God's dealings, and of all His laws; as love is 
the center of the Bible, the heart of Christianity, the 
character of God, the man that has love has the elements 
of all that is holy and Divine and great in his own heart. 
And this perfected is the ideal man that God has in mind 
for the eternal home at His own right hand. If you go 
to the center of the universe, you will find heaven; go 
to the center of heaven, and you will find God; go to 
the center of God — I say it reverently — and you find, not 
power, nor wisdom, but love. And love in heaven, in 
God, and in you are all the one thing, the bond of per- 
fection. Get all the learning of the schools, and one 
minute in heaven will teach you more than it all. Get 
all the wealth of earth, and the first glimpse you get of 
heaven will have more wealth in it than all the wealth 
of the world together. Get love, and that is the substance 
heaven is made of, and it will be but an increase of love 
to our souls. And the more love we have here, the more 
heaven we shall have there. 

It is usually the last thing that comes to the believing 
heart. Faith, hope, and all the other graces come before 
this. The Apostle Paul very logically puts it last. It 
comes last, and, alas! too often not at all. If men have 
some reasonable hope, how often they rest satisfied, and 
go no further! If they have faith in God to the extent 
that they do get answers to their prayers, and can trust 
Him for salvation, how often they can be detained there 
by the enemy of all good! Multitudes have a faith and 
a hope that are worth all the world to them, and with 
which they would not part for a million of worlds like 
this; and yet, these same dear souls get but little com- 



266 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

fort out of their religion; they have a sort of rest, but 
little comfort in Christ. Love is an absent factor in 
their experiences. Now, God wants them, wants all, to 
go on to this perfection of love that is the heritage of 
all the children of God. And this is precisely where so 
many disobey God, and break His will, made in love 
for them. A man or woman can preach without perfect 
love; can, of course, testify; can give money to the 
heathen; can deny themselves; yes, can do all that the 
Christian life demands, but love as they should. Of course, 
they do not preach as they would, and their testimonies 
and gifts are not blessed as they might be, still they are 
Christians, but weak and disobedient, and, in so far as 
they know their duty, they are not under condemnation. 
O, that God might give us this day a baptism of love! 
How easy it will make things that now are hard! How 
it will settle all strife in the heart and in the Church, and 
in the community too! Bless the Lord! When He 
has the right of way, things move sweetly and smoothly 
all around. 

Once more, I wish to observe that perfect love is 
the only inheritance of experience that we shall take into 
the next world with us. Faith we will leave behind, for 
there we shall see and know as we are seen and known. 
No, all efforts of faith will be past forever when we reach 
the golden shore. Hope, also, will be outgrown there. 
We are saved by hope here and now; but there, hope will 
give place to possession and enjoyment, and it will be 
placed on the shelf, with many other text-books, in the 
school of the eternal life. But love, sweet, Divine love, 
its very element is glory, and we will take it with us, and 
it will be the breath we breathe, the life we live, the 
work we do, the rest we enjoy, and the inheritance we 



Perfect Love. 267 

shall hold while eternal ages roll. God is love; God is 
immortal; so love can never die. The old sun will burn 
itself out some day; the planets of immensity are every 
one doomed to grow old; the stars will blaze their last 
some day; yes, all nature shall crumble and decay; but 
the love of God, and those who enjoy it by doing His will, 
shall abide forever. Glory for evermore! 

Look at that man working for money; look at that 
officer or politician planning for fame; look at that 
student working Sundays for knowledge, and can't go 
to Church; look at that man seeking pleasure; and yet, 
none of these things will stand the fire in the last day. 
But the gold of Divine love can not be destroyed, but 
will endure the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds. 
O, how I thank God for one thing that is abiding and 
can not be destroyed! Love, sweet love, sweet love of 
God — a sun that never sets, a fountain that never fails, 
a treasure that never depreciates, a pleasure that never 
cloys — though child of the skies, lives in this heart of 
mine forever. 

This love is a river of life, full and flowing, and free 
to all. Have you this love, dear hearts? If not, in the 
name of the Eternal God of love, get it to-day and now, 
and whatever else you have or have not, this is a treasure 
that will never fail nor forsake you, but shall be the 
sparkling gem in your diadem while endless ages roll. 



XXIII. 

THE TRANSFORMING VISION. 

"But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass 
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image 
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of our God." 
(2 Cor. iii, 18.) 

HP HE Apostle Paul is contrasting the law and the 
* gospel, and shows the superiority of the gospel in 
its great ideal. Every normal man in his best moments, 
if not continuously, has an ideal. Every man makes 
himself better or worse according to his ideal cherished. 
Every man should have the best ideal possible if he 
respects himself as a molding creature. Every man must 
confess the grandeur of the Christ-ideal. Noted men 
have ever had their ideals: Alexander the Great slept 
with Homer's Illiad under his head, and confessed the 
heroes there recorded made him what he became. Caesar 
and Charles XII, both men of blood, were made so by 
taking Alexander as an ideal. The murderer of Lord 
John Russell cherished, as his best book, the infamous 
Jack Shepard, which was then a new novel. And he 
confessed he read it over and over till he nerved himself 
for the monstrous deed. But, thank God, we are build- 
ing another way, and have another Ideal ! 

We have no photo of the Lord Jesus. The Bible 
gives us no idea of His appearance. So the glory spoken 
of in the text is not that of features, but character; so, also, 
the transforming of the beholder is not that of the out- 

268 



The Transforming Vision. 269 

ward features, though religion helps the countenance to 
a sweetness not in it before, still, it is true, the change is 
that of character. And graciously, for the outward man 
must perish; but the character, which Paul calls the in- 
ward man, will live and last forever. 

In Christ, God has hung an Ideal in the mental sky 
of all worshipers that is ever an inspiration. The world 
has tried to paint the face of the Savior, and some of the 
most impressive pictures of the world's great galleries are 
the Benignant Face, the Last Supper, the Trial, and the 
Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. Yet, after all the artist 
can do, the saint has a better portrait of his Savior, more 
stimulating and transforming, when he thinks of Him 
by the bed of the sick, soothing a fever; by the side of 
the sad, administering comfort; by the open sepulcher, 
calling the lamented back to life. 

While not one word in the Bible describes the out- 
ward appearance of Jesus, the four Gospels are written 
that we might behold His glory, see His loveliness, and 
be changed thereby. Matthew wrote his Gospel from the 
standpoint of a Jew, and in this first Gospel He is shown 
as a King, noble, grand, independent, and omnipotent. 
The King and kingdom are the key-words of the first 
Gospel. Mark wrote to the Romans, and in it he gives 
the Lord as the Servant of the race, condescending, help- 
ful, devoted, self-forgetting, ever-serving. Luke, the 
doctor and scholar, wrote his Gospel for the Greeks, and 
he dwells on the Savior as the Friend of sinners and the 
Author of the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the 
Prodigal Son, loving, kind, forgiving, charitable, and a 
Universal Savior; while John shows the Lord to be the 
Son of God from heaven, that was in the beginning, and 
the glory of the Father, divine and eternal. Now, under 



270 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

these four representations, without anything further, we 
can see the glory of the Redeemer. But as we draw 
nearer, and see with our own eyes, as it were, the Com- 
paniable Christ, going about doing good to all alike, 
healing the sick, comforting the sorrowing, feeding the 
hungry, teaching the ignorant, defending the widows 
and orphans against the piety-pretending Pharisees, for- 
giving the penitent, and raising the dead, we see His 
glory shine forth in a way that dazzles and almost con- 
fuses with the effulgence. But when we see Him sitting 
and eating with sinners, weeping with the mourner at the 
grave, praying for those who drove the nails in His feet, 
and, at last, dying without a complaint, we see glory 
that is sweet as a flower and mellow as the morning light. 

Now, as an Ideal, this picture melts its image into our 
very soul, if we but contemplate it. Men are made for 
ideals, as they are creatures of imitation, assimilation, 
and transformation. It is the most natural thing in the 
world for a child to imitate a man, some one loved and 
honored, and we, as children of larger growth, do the 
same, perhaps more unconsciously than a child does. 
But we do imitate. Bishop Hedding, a bishop much 
loved and honored, had a habit of carrying his head a 
little to one side, and all the young ministers in the Con- 
ference became affected by the same habit. And all the 
young doctors in a certain city got to lisping in imita- 
tion of one much loved and very successful who had that 
defect in speech. Then as we imitate, we assimilate, get 
to be so, in some measure, and some way; that has been 
seen all down history — men become like their heroes; 
lastly transformation takes place, when the changed 
character becomes complete and permanent. 

Imitation is seen in our composition. When we pass a 



The Transforming Vision. 271 

soldier, erect and stately in his carriage, how instinctively 
do we straighten up and put on a dignified bearing of 
imitation, and, if it is in us to be proper, it will come out 
at these times. Of course all will not so be affected, but 
the live man will. A magnet will pick up the metal out 
of a pan of earth, while a piece of wood will gather none, 
though the pan were full of metallic particles. So some 
natures might behold the lovely, and yet be unaffected. 
But God, in the text, speaks to those who have it in 
their hearts to imitate the good seen. 

Assimilation is another item in man that comes in 
for a thought here. It is one step further than imita- 
tion. A man associating with a good-natured friend 
might, for the moment, imitate him, and put on a smile 
that is seldom worn at home. That is imitation. But when 
he assimilates this good friend's happy way of living, he 
will have in him some of the same sweetness to become 
natural to him; that is, he has become like his friend in 
some degree. A man can walk in a flower-garden from 
one end to the other, and go out of it, and never have 
the least smell of sweet odor on his garments, though 
he admired them all; but if he stopped and plucked some 
of them, and especially worked with them for hours, he 
will smell of their sweets, he has assimilated some of the 
flower. 

But transformation is still a step further, and further 
than which, when perfect, men do not go. He be- 
comes like the thing assimilated. He can not be trans- 
formed into a rose, but he can be into the character of 
his good-natured friend, so that it is perfectly natural 
for him to ever be so from the depth of his own char- 
acter. It now is more natural for him to act like his friend 
than to act like his former self. He is transformed. 



272 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

This is a word used in the Bible to express the meaning 
of the word of the text, "changed." Now, all three of 
these elements are perfectly natural in the normal man. 
He can and does imitate, he will assimilate; and trans- 
formation is only the same thing developed or grafted 
in and allowed to grow. 
Could write no more. 

[His strength failed, and he was literally trans- 
formed — yes, translated — before he finished telling us 
about it. But I considered it too good to omit, even 
if it is incomplete. — Ei<IyA.] 



XXIV. 

CHRISTIANITY VS. INFIDELITY: 
THE ACCORDED PRE-EMINENCE OF CHRIS- 
TIANITY. 

"For their rock is not as our Rock, even our ene- 
mies themselves being judges." (Deut. xxxii, 31.) 

JWl OSES, the servant of God, has been encouraging 
* * Israel with an account of the goodness and great- 
ness of God. He spoke of God as the Father of his 
people, who were God's peculiar treasure. He reminded 
them of their distressed condition when God found them. 
He reminds them how God, Parent-like, has stirred them 
up to make something, using the figure of the eagle. 
He told them of the good things that God had given 
them. He spoke of their victories over their enemies, and 
exhorted them to be wise and obey God, and, as if he 
would make the words as strong as possible, made a 
climax in the words of my text. 

This lesson falls, naturally, into New Testament 
teaching from the similarity of our position with theirs. 
Christ is the Rock of our salvation, and we have enemies 
that have passed judgment on our hope in Christ as 
a foundation for life, death, and eternity; so that we can 
study some of the testimonies given by non-professors 
to Christianity's reasonableness with, I trust, a marked 
advantage. However, we shall not confine ourselves 
exclusively to the words of our enemies, but fill in a 
little with the words of those who knew and loved God. 
18 273 



274 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

So, this evening, we will discuss three points, in which 
Christianity is superior to its rivals. The first is: 

I. ITS SUPERIOR CREED. 

The being of a God is an item of our creed we all 
accord. Now, if we would turn to nature, to study 
atheism, it would be interesting indeed. In a world 
without God, things just happened to be so. In com- 
ing by law, the law just happened to be in matter, not 
put there, but just happened to be there. The seasons 
just happen to come about regularly. The wheat 
planted just happens to produce wheat instead of bar- 
ley. Night just happens to follow day. The spider's 
eye and marvelous body are mere accidents. Man walks 
upright, can control matter, and direct business, all 
without special adaptation by creation for that. Yes, 
the stars shine, the earth rolls on its axis, the seasons 
come and go, and the years pass away, all without any 
plan or design. Yes, our enemies would have us live 
and die without a Father above to care for us or to 
help us when in need. 

Better to begin in a different way. We have a God, 
loving, kind, and tender. He loves us, hears our pray- 
ers, directs our steps, and wills our good. Atheism 
would set us loose in a world as above — only picture 
vividly as a vast world-clod of clay and chaos whirling 
in space, with a lot of parasites on it, without any design. 
Christianity says the crimes of the world are sins 
against God; that the man who kills, and steals, and 
ruins the innocent, and oppresses the poor, and runs red- 
handed riot over the earth for selfish advantage, is a sin- 
ner; that the poor, oppressed, honest man is, after all, 
the equal of any, if right in his life and living. The atheist 



Christianity versus Infidelity. 275 

says that what we call sin is only a natural tendency, 
that is as natural as any appetite we possess or that 
possesses us; that we simply act naturally when we do 
wrong. We are responsible to no one, and none has a 
right to threaten us with judgment; so that we are just 
turned loose to prey upon the weak, might being right; 
that, if one can, he may, and that is all to it; turning 
us loose in a world surrounded by demons incarnate, 
against whom no one can protest, as they simply do 
what is natural in them to do. 

Christianity offers to the right-living world a sure 
heaven of joy when life is over. No matter what the 
ills of life may be, heaven will more than make amends. 
How the thought of heaven comes to the weary with 
a solace and comfort that nerves for all trials and per- 
plexities! How the poor, with their privations, endure 
the all of human woes with a resolution often a wonder 
to the worldling! How the conscious child of God 
works unrewarded, and dies, like a Wesley or Ed- 
wards, penniless! How the missionary gives up all 
home comforts for a life in heathen darkness, 'mid dis- 
ease and death, leaning on the hope set before them of 
at last resting their weary forms in the haven of eternal 
bliss! But atheism says all there is before you is a hole 
in the ground. Eat and drink and be merry if you can, 
for this is all of life, and death ends all. The atheist 
goes to my dear old father, and your loving mother, 
saying, as they draw near, "There is no hope for aught 
beyond the grave." Suffer the best you can. If poor, 
endure it. If oppressed, disregard it, and go on to the 
inevitable grave that ends all, alike for the bad and the 
good. 

Christianity says we have redemption in Jesus; that, 



276 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

while we are conscious of sin and moral weakness ; while 
we are conscious of moral demerit; that while we have 
often failed to do the right, or to shun the wrong, we 
have help and support, grace and pardon, in the 
Son of God, who, on the cross, died that we might 
live, gave His life a ransom for all; that while we broke 
the law, He, the Son of God, came and made atonement 
for the broken law, and imparted power to keep the 
new law to all who are willing to live godly lives. 
Atheism says it is all bosh. If you are a drunkard, and 
are breaking the heart of your wife, beggaring your 
children, polluting your body, mind, and soul, go on, 
or try your will, and if that will not do, there is no 
help. If on a dying-bed, and conscience troubles you, 
shut your eyes till death gives relief; no hope for a 
man's soul. 

II. ITS SUPERIOR CHARACTER. 

Fortitude. Infidelity is a cheap way out of duty. 
Life is real, and life is earnest, and, as Joseph Cook 
says, "No joke to the grave." Christianity says, "If life 
is hard, press hard at the task." Infidelity says, "If 
life is hard, run away from it by suicide." All this, 
woven into character, shows up in the grand total of hu- 
man life. There is nothing you must needs be to be an 
infidel; there is nothing you must needs believe to be 
an infidel. Drift with the stream, go with the crowd, 
live as you list, and you are a good infidel. To be a 
Christian, you must "fight if you would reign," that is 
sure. Effort always develops character. A zigzag 
around the earth has made all the great men. In coun- 
tries and conditions where man can live without labor, 
no great men are found. Put a man to fight the ele- 



Christianity versus Infidelity. 277 

ments, to work for food, to encounter foes, to struggle 
to keep up with the march of his fellows, and you will 
find great men, manhood at its best. Such character 
Christianity always fosters. It means an effort to rise 
to the world above. Grit and grace are near kin. In- 
fidelity and ease are cousins. 

Self-denial is a trait of character, without which one 
can not be a Christian. Indulgence and grace can not 
long live in the same heart. There are ever things that 
meet and greet the believer that he must forego to be 
the best man. Drink can be indulged or denied. 
Amusements that destroy virtue, and life in some, must 
be denied by all that follow the blessed Christ. It is 
not so much a matter whether or not I can dance and 
be pure, as whether others can, and all be pure. It is 
not so much the question whether I can go to theaters 
and circuses, and keep balanced in my affections, as 
whether others can all do it, and keep right with God. 
If any one is injured by my example, as a Christian, I 
will forego that pleasure or pursuit. It is not so much 
what it is, as to the result of my doing it, and thus in- 
fluencing others to do so too. This trait of character 
in a negative aspect is, I think, grand; but the positive 
side of it is the seed and ground of all great progress in 
the history of the world. 

John Howard, the great-hearted man, who trans- 
formed the den and cages where men and women rotted 
as prisoners in the past century for trivial crimes, prac- 
ticed the greatest self-denial. The priest who put an 
end to the gladiatorial combats in the blood-stained 
arena was in the habit of self-denial, so that when he 
confronted the two men killing each other for the enter- 
tainment of the uncultured, godless spectators, he ran 



278 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

in between them, losing his own life, but forever ending 
the gladiatorial shows. Who can go into the home where 
the mother and father, God-fearing and man-loving, en- 
dure hardness for the welfare of a son or daughter that 
they have consecrated to the service of the welfare of 
men, without admiring the stuff those lives are made of? 
This sort of thing is germane to Christianity. Unless 
we take up our cross and deny ourselves daily, we can 
not be His disciples. Carry this out in life wherever 
man is found, and you will see the grandeur of the Chris- 
tian character. 

Purity is a trait of Christian character. And while 
we all know by the blood in our own veins the benefit of 
purity in the homes from which we come forth, and 
while we all see what it would be to throw down all the 
protection to the sanctity of the purity of homes, infidel- 
ity, in the creed of Hume and in the character of Rous- 
seau, has violated all the hallowed influences of this 
necessary grace. Hume's teaching on this subject and 
Rousseau's practice are at once so vile and indecent that 
I forbear to mention or proclaim them in the face of 
this respectable company. No man would say he 
wanted his daughter to be treated as Hume advocates. 
No mother would submit her child to the treatment 
Rousseau inculcates by practice. But all men and women, 
regardless of creed or character, unless the most veritable 
demons incarnate, could wish their sons and daughters 
to live as the Christian religion has ever imposed upon 
its followers. 

Honesty is a trait of Christian character, without 
which no business can be carried on successfully. Talley- 
rand, the liberal-minded Frenchman, who said that lan- 
guage was given for man to hide his thoughts, took thir- 



Christianity versus Infidelity. 



279 



teen (13) different oaths of fidelity to all and any that 
rose in power — to the pope, to the king, to the em- 
peror — all alike untrue. James Parton, the infidel bi- 
ographer of the infidel Voltaire, says, "Voltaire was the 
most unconscionable liar that ever lived." 

Simplicity, a trait of Christian character, is surely 
much to be preferred to the profanity of the modern in- 
fidel. Mr. Ingersoll, in one of his speeches, takes the 
pains to intersperse a little profanity for the sake of 
emphasis. What mother would bring her child up for 
good company — I care not what her belief may be — 
would wish her boy to acquire the senseless, vile habit 
of profanity? And yet the American infidel in cold blood 
would emphasize his thought by profanity. Christianity 
says, "Thou shalt not;" and I like it, don't you? O the 
Christian character has all the advantage of decency, 
utility, and safety on its side. 

This leads me up to the next point I would make, 
that: 

III. IT IS SUPERIOR IN ITS CLAIMS. 

I will confine my remarks to three items of universal 
interest, upon which to base my remarks. The effects 
of a thing are often the best criteria by which to judge 
of the nature of the thing itself. I think it is true of 
the question before us. At all events, the criteria are as 
good for one side as the other, so that the decision ren- 
dered will be impartial. So let us note the men each 
side has produced. 

Luther and Voltaire, enemies of the Church, though 
the former lived in a day when the light was less bright 
and the cost of reform was the greater. Yet he lived 
a pure, unselfish life, against which even his enemies 
can not find food for their hate. He labored without 



280 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

reward, often friendless and penniless. He established 
the greatest movement of the modern world, and gave 
the Bible in the vernacular to his country and his age. 
Through a long life of toil he sought the favor of God 
alone, and at last died in poverty after refusing to write 
books for money. 

Voltaire, the talented idol of his worldly followers, 
though an able writer, confessed he wrote for money 
only. He lived a life of luxury on the support of the 
means he gained for abusing the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and was called the most unconscionable liar that ever 
lived. Luther left a treasure of rich literature to the 
Church and the world, that will be read and enjoyed 
while a pure Christianity finds a home on earth. Vol- 
taire left a host of books, that are no longer read, and 
are absolutely worthless. 

Let us come a little closer home, and select two 
men from our country's history, and compare them. 
Washington and Thomas Paine were both friends and 
champions of American liberty. Let us compare them. 

At the very outset you are prepossessed in the favor 
of the former. Why? Is it because the latter had less 
intellect? No one would dare to say that. Was it be- 
cause he had less opportunity to show his powers and 
worth? No one would say that. Well, why is it that 
we all universally honor Washington, who, at home and 
abroad, is regarded as one of the greatest of earth's 
sons and the astute champion of United States liberty, 
while the name of Paine is seldom heard out of the 
very small circle of a few infidels? One lived the glory 
of his nation, and, when dead, is monumented in the 
hearts, literature, and edifices of a grateful people — the 
greatest nation of earth. The other lived an irregular 
life, left a few books, some of which he himself said 



Christianity versus Infidelity. 281 

he could wish were burned — and all might, and no one 
would suffer loss — and himself buried in the tomb of 
oblivion. One was a Christian, and the other an infidel. 
In your mind, journey with me till within the period 
of the present century, and find two men, representatives 
of the respective thought we are discussing. Take Aaron 
Burr, that assassin of Alexander Hamilton, and Abra- 
ham Lincoln. Would you have patience with me while 
I compare them? No; it is useless. The fact is, you 
would not bear with me. Let us come a little nearer, 
and arrange, side by side, Garfield and his contemporary 
Ingersoll. The latter had the advantage in his birth 
and early surroundings. Ingersoll never drove a canal 
mule, as did his contemporary. He knew nothing of 
the pinch of poverty and limitations of being the son 
of a widow, as did Garfield. Yet they both grew to 
manhood, and entered the late war, the odds decidedly 
in favor of the infidel. Garfield, with faith in God and 
a Bible in his pocket, won his spurs, and came out of 
the service one of the most useful, trusted officers among 
the servants of the Union. The infidel ran into a cow- 
pen, and surrendered up his sword to a boy of sixteen, 
and came home. Garfield rose in the esteem of his 
country, till its highest honor, the Chief Magistracy, 
was its grateful expression. And as President he 
showed the stuff Christianity fosters, and died for what 
he thought was right; while the latter has done nothing 
but abuse the blessed, brave, loving, Divine Lord Jesus 
Christ, because it pays him five hundred dollars a night 
to do so. Honor be to the dust of our lamented Presi- 
dent! Give what you please to the infidel. I have noth- 
ing to offer him but shame. Such are some few of the 
men that might be compared. 

As the result of Christianity we claim all the great 



282 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

charitable institutions of the world — the hospital for the 
sick, the alms for the poor, the asylum for the blind 
and imbecile, the more humane prisons for the criminal 
and the vicious — not one of which can the infidel claim. 
But we must hasten. 

As the result of Christianity we claim the great in- 
ventions of the world. The printing-press, man's great- 
est friend, was given to the world by the Christian Gu- 
tenberg. Watts, the Scotch Christian, gave the world 
the steam engine, without which our great West to this 
day would be but a sparsely-settled wilderness, and com- 
merce would be dragging along its weary lengths a few 
miles an hour. Wilberforce, the Christian Englishman, 
and our own praying Lincoln, liberated the slaves of the 
two greatest nations of earth, and have shown to the 
world what is the spirit of Christianity. Bacon gave to 
the world the inductive philosophy that has transformed 
the life and living of civilization; while Howard, the 
Christian philanthropist, gave the world organized 
charities, to alleviate the distress and want of unfortunate 
men, women, and children. 

Over against this put down the one single thing the 
infidel has given the world, and I will accord. O no; 
good things do n't grow on such soil. These, my friends, 
are some of the claims of the Christian faith. We might 
add: arbitration instead of war; temperance instead of 
universal debauchery; freedom for all men instead of 
slavery. Yes, Christianity has done more. I mean 
Protestant Christianity. It has said every man has the 
right to pursue culture, happiness, and freedom of con- 
science, based on the Bible, and to aspire for a home 
in heaven; and, taken as a whole, Christianity has so 
far won the world over to the great truth that Christian 



Christianity versus Infidelity. 283 

life is the noblest and happiest and highest ideal, that 
even those who laid no claims to being Christian, when 
dead, their biographers have gone to untold lengths to 
prove they had faith in Christ and were Christians. So 
they spoke of Jefferson and Webster, both of whom may 
have had profound respect for the truth, though they 
made no pretensions of being such men as Christianity 
naturally enforces. 

Is it any wonder that we read such remarkable testi- 
monies from the worldling and skeptic, as we find in their 
writings? Is it any wonder that men who have habit- 
ually lived at variance with the teachings of the Chris- 
tian faith, should at their last end lament their lack of 
purpose in having failed to live for Christ and heaven? 
Is it any wonder that such men as have led the world's 
thought have exhausted their vocabulary in eulogizing 
the Bible, Christ, and Christianity? Is it any wonder 
that men like Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Patrick 
Henry should put into their wills for their heirs a testi- 
mony to Christianity? Patrick Henry's will has these 
words: "My dear children! If I could give you all 
the world, without the religion of Jesus Christ, you 
would be poor; but if I could give you the religion of 
Christ, without a cent, you would be rich." Does that 
mean anything to the children of other Americans that 
have a right to the best God has for man? See to it 
you neglect it not. Charles Dickens had put into his 
will tkese words: "I commit to the mercy of God, through 
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and exhort my dear 
children humbly to try to guide themselves by the teach- 
ing of the New Testament." In the will of the immortal 
bard, Shakespeare, "I commend my soul into the hands 
of God, my Creator, hoping and assuredly believing, 



284 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

through the mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 
to be made partaker of everlasting life." 

In conclusion, I would say that the world to-day 
is no longer divided between Christianity and other 
faiths, but has come to the final point of Christianity 
or no religion that is superhuman. The wicked have laid 
down the arms of opposition to Christianity, and have 
embraced their Savior. The skeptical — the greatest 
among them, such as Byron, Renan, Rousseau, Huxley, 
Napoleon, and a whole array of the class — have piled 
up eulogy and praise upon the fair brow of Christianity, 
until nothing more is remaining to be said, except the 
words of the Doubting Thomas, "My Lord and my 
God;" while the believers have endured hardness and 
privation, to advance their beloved faith; have plowed 
the high seas to foreign fields, and there, among sunken 
savagery and distressing discomfort, have proclaimed the 
good news of the Savior born. Yea, go back a little in 
history, recall the massacres, butcheries, and barbarities 
inflicted on the faithful for no other crime than that 
they loved the Son of God and worshiped Him; and see 
how, 'mid flames' burning heat, exposure's chilling cold, 
the tortures of the rack, the damp darkness of the dun- 
geon, and the pangs of the most terrible death, and see 
what Christianity is to the world of hearts that have fled 
to take shelter under its benignant wing. 

If to-day we could see all the happiness, the comfort, 
the hope, the repose, the purity, generated and fostered 
by the faith of the Son of God; if we could see how 
many are braved to fight life's battles against the great- 
est odds, how many endure patiently the hardships of 
privations and poverty; yes, if we could see how many 
are fitted for heaven and led thither by the Hand ex- 



Christianity versus Infidelity. 285 

tended to help and lead, I have the charity to hope 
many among you would have the goodness to give your 
hearts to God, and this night go on your way rejoicing 
in your new-found Lord. Dear ones! All this is true, 
whether or not you will ever see it. How many have 
died for Christ! How many wicked, on their dying-bed, 
have asked an interest in Christ! How many infidels 
have in death recanted and professed faith in the Son 
of God! And never one — no, not one — on a death-bed 
has ever given up Christianity for sin or infidelity. I say, 
take from me all the world calls good and great, but 
leave me Christianity. Heap upon me all the world 
calls evil and hard, but do n't bring to my door or heart 
godless unbelief. I want Christianity to help me fight 
life's battles while I live, to combat death when I die, 
to guide me to glory when this world is no more. The 
Old Ship of Zion is lifting anchor! Room for all! Get 
on board, and do it now ! 



XXV. 

THE NEW MAN. 

"Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new 
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things 
are become new." (2 Cor. v, 17.) 

THE apostle has been giving a statement in vindication 
of his ministry and apostleship. He, like many other 
good men, was not without detractors; but he vindicated 
himself by assuring the cavilers and all interested that 
he was Divinely appointed. It was in the spirit as against 
the letter, as of labor against luxury, of sincerity as 
against show, of service as against selfishness, and, 
finally, of God as against mere men's appointment. 

To make manifest the wisdom of such a ministry, 
Paul marshals the great verities of the Christian relig- 
ion as not only warranting, but impelling it. He speaks 
of the unseen, eternal world of hope; of the sure judg- 
ment of all, where each will receive his own chosen end 
of life; and, finally, of the great love of God that con- 
strained men to so live and labor. Yes, he goes one 
step further, and shows how perfectly natural it is for all 
true believers to so do, since they are new creatures; 
shows how the earth has lost its master hold on the soul ; 
how the distant heaven has bowed to cheer and welcome 
him, and that to the new creature the unknown, hidden 
God has become a bosom Friend. 

This manifested life has been accorded by those of 
all creeds and in every clime, though the conception of 

286 



The New Man. 287 

the truth, and, of course, its statement, has been, and 
still is, a subject on which opinions are most various and 
divergent. For example, in our own Church, inner light 
has been made to do duty to express and explain the 
whole process of the transformation of man — a truth that 
none can gainsay, since it has a Scripture basis. But as 
covering the whole ground of conversion is only half a 
truth, which, like all half-truths in the creeds of many, 
must become a falsehood, just as the foreknowledge of 
God — a truth of Scripture — under the extreme delinea- 
tion of Calvinism, became a revolting lie; or as God's 
universal love and, of course, his universal salvation — 
a sentiment inseparably connected with the Fatherhood 
of God — under the heresy of nineteenth-century Uni- 
versalism, opening wide the door of heaven to the god- 
less and impenitent, were alike revolting and untrue, — so, 
with this evident abuse of truth in the hands of men, 
a recurrence to the Bible for a basis of belief becomes 
equally necessary and precious. 

So let us note the Scripture ground, nature, and re- 
sult of grace on the hearts of men; or, let us note the 
Bible character of personal Christianity. 

I. THE CHRISTIAN HAS A NEW LIFE. 

The words used to express this are several. To 
Nicodemus, Jesus represented it as a new birth. This 
was a hard saying for poor Nicodemus to comprehend. 
He, like us, could not see the way. And around this 
truth the great reformation in the Church has ever re- 
volved. Men lose this simple, though mysterious truth, 
and then resort to some outward rite or process more 
or less plausible, hoping thereby to make themselves 
new. 



288 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

The washings of the Pharisees in the time of Christ 
and the Jews to-day are some of its aspects. The multi- 
plied superstitions and ceremonies of mediaeval piety 
were another, while the new sociology and outward re- 
form movement of our day are the last and modern ex- 
pressions of the same tendency. 

But let the age and the language be what it will, 
the meaning is ever the same, and when known, as it may 
be, invariably proclaims a religion without a God. This 
is very manifest when we consider that none but God 
can give life. And in giving religion to the soul of man, 
God meets all the figures of Christ's teachings, when He 
said, "Make the tree good, and the fruit will be good 
also." And in its suddenness, as when the wind "blow- 
eth where it listeth." 

Under the figure of birth, God shows the transforma- 
tion of man is at once instantaneous, supernatural, and 
mysterious. Who has not noted these three aspects in 
the lives of those who profess a change in a revival? 

Then, again, it is creation, as the apostle says. 
"Created anew unto good works" suggests the idea of 
adapting the change to the end it is to conserve. As 
fish are made to swim the waters, birds to fly in the air, 
so the new man is made for a special purpose, and that 
to live a godly life in this wicked world. 

Or under the figure of restoration the same 
truth is enforced. Man's powers under sin have 
become perverted and destroyed; so when God 
"restores his soul," as the psalmist puts it, he 
is brought back to the condition of man as God 
wants him to be, with, of course, the limitation peculiar 
to our dwarfed intellects and emotions. But as Adam 
could trust without harrowing doubts, hope without de- 



The New Man. 289 

spair, and love without hate or enmity, so the restoration 
of man brings him into conformity to* the will of God 
in that he is a child born of the new Adam from heaven. 
Not that the new creation, birth, or restoration will 
pinion wings to his back, or enable him to live without 
eating or working, but it will enable him to live right 
in this present evil world. 

II. THE CHRISTIAN HAS ~A ~N^w" PROWKSS. 

Conscious relationship. How a convert trusts God! 
Not the pasteboard convert of a pasteboard revival, but 
the soul that really sorrows for sin, and, by drawing 
near to God for pardon, feels the thrill of the new life. 
How he stands, confident of a Father's care and love, 
when looking up to God! This made Luther a re- 
former. This sent Carey to the mission-field. This 
cheered a David Livingstone in Africa. And by this con- 
fident relationship, Paul cared for nothing in this world 
but to do his duty, seeming to see the hand of God ever 
stretched out to help and support him. 

Joy is ever an element of strength; but religious 
joy, so sweet and inspiring, can raise the soul above 
all the traps and trifles of this life, and enable him to 
say, with Habakkuk: "Although the fig-tree shall not 
blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of 
the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the 
flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no 
herd in the stalls; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, and joy 
in the God of my salvation." And the disciples could 
break their bread from house to house with joy and 
gladness, while Paul, tormented and mistreated, and 
driven from city to city, was not only joyful himself, 
but exhorted the Church to rejoice always. 
19 



290 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

Enthusiasm. Christ puts the everlasting "go" in us. 
What enthusiasm the disciples manifested in spreading 
the truth in the world — Paul! John! Bishop Taylor, 
laid on the shelf by the Church, but as enthusiastic as 
ever in his God-appointed mission work. 

Then love, the greatest power in the world, as well 
as the greatest thing in the world, will enable the believer 
to endure cheerfully all this world has to inflict or the 
other world to command. Love of country in Switzer- 
land has studded the country's history with examples of 
heroism that will last while the chivalrous and brave 
appeal to our hearts. Look into the terrible pen of 
Andersonville, where love for comrades prompted the 
greatest sacrifice! Look at Moses, crying out to God, 
"Blot my name out if — only spare Israel!" Paul said 
love constrained him to live as we know he did. Glory! 
It will conquer all and ever. For these attributes are 
Spirit-born in the soul, which is nothing more than the 
life of God in man, which, partaking of the nature or 
source of Divine life, is at once universal, omnipotent, 
and eternal. That is, it is not like the rivers of Judah 
or Egypt, or the good well on the Western prairie, frozen 
in winter and dry in summer. No, it is a perennial spring. 
Glory to God for the prowess of the new life! 

Again, let us note: 

in. the christian has a new purpose. 

Not only an adaptation, but an actual desire and de- 
termination to do something peculiar to the new life. 
In the first place, I think the first impulse of the new- 
born child of God is to conquer earth. You can get 
away from the devil by resisting him, but the earth is 
on hand to stay. I mean by earth the appetites, passions, 



The New Man. 291 

notions, habits, and temptations of earthly things. But 
the Bible triumphantly says that "he that is born of 
God overcomes the world." We all have a whole earth 
to conquer. Alexander conquered the organized polit- 
ical world, but left himself out, and died a slave to his 
own weakness and debauchery at last, and fell dead 
in a fit of intemperance. Every soul has a Waterloo, an 
Austerlitz, a Gettysburg, to fight, and the new-born soul 
goes in with the assurance of victory. 

Affiliate with heaven. I often say that I want to live 
as long as I can. But do n't let this impress any one as 
though I would not rather be in heaven if my life's work 
were done. Richard Hooker, when dying, said, "I am 
going to a world of order," and rejoiced. That is 
why it is not mean nor cowardly to hope for heaven. 
Heaven represents an ideal with which we have a born 
sympathy. No sin will be there, nor any sorrow. There 
we will meet our loved ones once again. There we will 
meet and be greeted by our Savior. There shall be no 
more fear, sickness, sorrow, pain, or death. Ah yes, 
brother, heaven has so many things for the new life and 
love that to be homesick for heaven is quite natural, es- 
pecially for those who have most all of their loved ones 
on the other side. 

He aims at idealizing God in his soul. The Holy 
Ghost. The only Christianity we dare embrace or would 
know is the fullness of the Spirit. When the Holy Ghost 
comes upon us, we not only have the promised power, 
but the presence of God is as real as His power is real. 
We must put forth an effort, sometimes, to realize an 
absent friend. We do this sometimes effectually, with 
comfort. But then, if we really desire, above all else be- 
sides, the presence of the Spirit, He will come and take 



292 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

up His abode in our heart as real as the food we eat or 
the clothes we wear. Praise the Lord! 

And lastly, we will purposely or inadvertently in- 
fluence men and women to attempt a home in heaven 
by serving God on earth. 

Here, then, is the new man. Have you not seen those 
who answered this description, at least so far as to be 
recognized? Yea, have not you, yourselves, felt and 
acted so at some time since your conversion? 

Ah yes, my friends, I am persuaded that few, if any, 
in this house are entirely ignorant of such knowledge. 
And so, while I have been drawing a few of the out- 
lining features of the new man, in your hearts you have 
said, "Yes, that is so, I know that is a fact." But, friend, 
allow me, please, to ask, Is this the life you are living? 
Do you have the victory all the time and all along the 
line of life's varied experiences? If so, thank God, and 
go on. But if not, if you must say this life is real, 
and you know it, but do not enjoy it, allow me to exhort 
you, this morning, to tarry no longer, but at once ad- 
dress yourself to God in earnest prayer, and never leave 
this room till you have told Him from this out you will 
live the life of the new man by having the new life come 
into your soul. Remember, God wants to remake every 
one of us. The moment we make to ourselves the right 
motive, set up in our own heart the earnest desire to be 
all God would have us be; the instant we can from our 
heart say that we would rather be a new man in Christ 
Jesus than live the old life of sin, that moment we can 
take Jesus as our Savior, and go on our way rejoicing, 
knowing surely our God will fulfill His promise, that 
those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be 
filled. 



XXVI. 

HARMONIES ANNOUNCED AT THE ADVENT 
OF CHRIST. 

A CHRISTMAS SERMON. 

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good will toward men." (Luke ii, 14.) 

HP HIS day is one of joyfulness over the Christian 
-*• world. Not that the day is chronologically correctly 
settled; for no one knows just the date of the Savior's 
birth, and for three hundred years no day was kept, and 
not until the time of Charles the Great — in about the 
beginning of the ninth century — did Christmas become 
an established thing; and even then it was held by some 
on the 6th of January, and by others on this date; so 
that it is not the day we wish to observe, but the facts 
that have come into the world with the blessed Lord, 
in whose honor the day is kept. 

I have stated the above from the fact that there is a 
tendency in man to make idols of times and seasons, in- 
stitutions and individuals. In the Catholic Church they 
had so many saints' days that there were not enough 
days in the year to give each a day, so the Church ap- 
pointed the first of November as "All-Saints' Day," 
and gave them all the same day; while in the Episcopal 
Church calendar this tendency to set aside days as a 
little more holy grew to such an extent that the calendar 
has become a dead letter, one, indeed, to be read, but 
not obeyed, as obedience to it would be practically im- 

293 



294 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

possible, since there are 31 feast days and 95 fast days, 
besides the 52 Sundays, which, altogether, takes up 178 
days, so that only 187 remain out of the 365 for life 
and business. So we as thinking people, that would 
avoid all hurtful superstition, must not regard the day 
as of itself important, but the things that the day an- 
nounces. 

Now, the character or the religious import of 
Christmas-day makes it a season of all the year the 
most joyous; for unto man a Savior is born. If there 
is any spontaneous happiness in the heart of man, it 
should find expression somehow on this day; and, as 
God gave us, the world, such a Present, it is most natural 
for man to give and receive presents, heart-cheering and 
life-inspiring, on this day. As the angels sang joy- 
fully, so should we, and Christians should be the most 
light-hearted and happy. But in all this giving, receiv- 
ing, and rejoicing, we must remember it is a day of 
religious memories, and should not be spent, as so many 
spend it, as though it was kept in honor of Venus or 
Bacchus, or some patron saint of iniquity, by drinking 
and dancing and gambling. Many set this sacred day 
apart for a spree, cock-fight, a dance, or season of spe- 
cial gambling. How man will pervert all that is good 
to his own harm! But we are not so minded; but in 
the spirit of religious triumph we shall rejoice as be- 
cometh saints. 

And while the great minds among the heathen nations 
have, from time to time — as in the teachings of Socrates, 
the dialogues of Plato, and the eclogues of Virgil — 
spoken of a hope that a hero or demi-god would mani- 
fest himself in the world for the good of man, and the 
whole of the Jewish nation had, through prophecy, re- 



Harmonies Announced at the Advent. 295 

ceived from God the same expectancy, yet, in the minds 
of men, everywhere the hope was held, it was so vague 
and ill-determined that a sort of fear rather than joy 
had rested upon the souls of the thoughtful as they 
contemplated the possible Coming One. And is it any 
wonder that this should be the feeling, when we con- 
sider the sinfulness, cruelty, and oppression of the weak 
that everywhere abounded? How cruel, revengeful, and 
bloodthirsty man has been! Worse than the wolves of 
the woods; for wolves will not war with themselves, 
but attack an unlike foe. But man has spent his strength 
and ingenuity to destroy his own fellow-creatures, made 
in the image of God, so that man feared man more than 
the savage beast. This guilt of conscience or conscious 
unworthiness of man had filled his mind with his mis- 
givings as to the attitude of the Almighty. Does not 
this account for the manner and order of matter in 
the announcement? Note how cautiously, seemingly, 
the announcement was made. By one angel only, at first 
to the shepherds, and a word of consolation not to 
fear, for it was a message of joy to all people, not the 
great only, but all the world; then, afterward, 
there was a choir of angels singing and shout- 
ing, and the message expanded into a revelation 
of duty and attitude toward God and man. But 
first the single voice and the word of joy. O, how 
good and kind God is! And now, as we think of how 
unworthy all the world had been in the four thousand 
years, how little man really cared to know or do his 
duty to God and his fellow, but still the message of 
high heaven to earth is one of tenderness and love. 
Who would have expected it? No sane man. But the 
word of redemption was the message, and all the world 



296 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

is called upon to rejoice in a universal Savior to all that 
will believe and receive. 

Note, too, as a final introductory thought, how im- 
portant it was that God should first approach man. Man 
had severed himself bv the fall from God and the an- 
gels, and the gate of approach was barred and lost in 
the darkness and mist, and if God had not first come 
to man, he must needs have remained in ignorance of 
the real attitude heaven maintained toward him. But 
God never fails to do His part, and to do it divinely; so 
that joy, unclouded joy, should be the nature of every 
mortal man as he raises his eyes toward the Infinite. So 
note, as the first strain announced in the redemptive 
message by the angels: 

I. THE HARMONY OF HEAVEN WITH EARTH. 

All down the ages, here and there, on earth, has a 
song arisen to heaven, but never since the stars sang to- 
gether on the morn of creation has heaven sung over 
earth, till the first Christmas morning. But earth has 
now, under the the birth of the Redeemer, become the 
subject of heavenly song. At first, earth and heaven 
were in accord, but sin created a rupture, and a separa- 
tion followed. How much joy did the angels feel in 
making the announcement! 

At the first, angels were constant and frequent visit- 
ors in Eden to our first parents; then, after the expul- 
sion, they became few and far between. But now they 
are about us, to minister to us as we become, by faith 
and obedience, the heirs of salvation. How near now 
the eternal world is can be witnessed to by the joy filling 
our souls, as we think God's thoughts and worship Him, 
after being, for awhile, lost in earth's enterprises. 

For much of the time past, to most of mankind, the 



Harmonies Announced at the Advent. 297 

heavens have seemed to be brass, and the ears of the Al- 
mighty dull of hearing; but now, instead of man seeking 
God, God is seeking and saving man. And no longer pen- 
ances and genuflections occupy the hearts and hands 
of the pious, but an open heaven invites all to approach; 
for God has first approached and visited us. Glory! 

Glory to God is the cardinal truth of the whole 
heavenly interference; not a weak matter of according 
a superstitious fear to the Almighty, but a reverence and 
honor due to His character and nature and work for 
the race. All that glory to God means will take too 
much time, but we can suggest some few thoughts. 

Honor, reverence — not Revs, and D. D.'s — but har- 
monize with, obey, and submit; to covet in our souls 
His Spirit; allow in our lives His law; make in our hearts 
His temples; reflect in our manner His gentleness; make 
Him the Pattern and Ideal of our lives. Remember, we 
are sons. The Prince forgets not His approach to man 
in the incarnation. 

God and heaven are more interested in redemption 
than creation, and redemption is God's greatest work for 
man in time or eternity. The manner in which re- 
demption is proclaimed pleases the angels, is approved 
by the high and heavenly intelligences, and should be 
ever regarded as the work of Heaven — the Spirit — and 
not of the earth — man's efforts. 

II. THE MESSAGE ANNOUNCES MAN'S HARMONY WITH 
HIMSELF. 

Joy is the one word that expresses it all. Joy is soul- 
harmony. Man has been at war with himself for four 
thousand years; now harmony can be secured. Intellect, 
sensibility, and will, all at war with one another. He 
has made an enemy of his own conscience by sinning; 



298 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

he has weakened his will, and needed a motive strong 
and great; he has chained himself with galling fetters of 
habit; he has been enslaved by a false standard, and work 
seems a disgrace; he has been weakened, and was with- 
out strength ; he has vainly thought and sought for a way 
of life, and has failed. But now joy is announced to the 
very poor, the slave, the toiler; to the expectant; to the 
philosopher and thinker; to the young, aspiring; to the 
old, retiring; to the sinful, as having hope and the Al- 
mighty revealing Himself. Joy always and ever at the 
birth of Christ. 

III. HARMONY OF THE WHOI,E RACE. 

God has made of one blood all nations of men, Paul 
assures us, and yet how unlike this has been the conduct 
of one brother toward another! How hatred abounded 
between Jews and Samaritans, Greeks and barbarians, 
white and black, rich and poor, strong and weak, even 
old and young! Hatred of others is written on every 
page of history for four thousand years. Some will 
say, If we are one and redeemed by one Savior, 
why do so many nations fail to receive the gospel? 
Is it any wonder that the North American Indian 
has failed to see much in the gospel? Is it any 
wonder that the Indians of India have refused so 
persistently the gospel, when we consider the English 
policy, even in their religion? Is it any wonder that 
China has refused the gospel so long, when we remember 
how opium was forced into her ports at the cannon's 
mouth? Is it any wonder that the masses of Africa have 
failed to rejoice in the gospel as a good word to them, 
when we consider the slave-trade? Is it any wonder that 
so many working poor in our own land refuse the gospel, 



Harmonies Announced at the Advent. 299 

when the rich have so systematically oppressed them? 
Is it any wonder that so many of all classes are still un- 
saved, when we consider the savage treatment of Inquisi- 
tions, Christian wars, etc.? Yet peace for the race exists. 

Men now, as the love of the Redeemer comes into 
their hearts, live for the whole race of man. Men now, 
having received the type of heaven's love, love one an- 
other as never before. 

But though all earth fail, yet man, poor, oppressed, 
despised, afflicted man, can ever lift his eyes to heaven 
and find a smiling Face beaming on him, and no matter 
how slow it may be in coming, the time will come when 
peace on earth will be as universal as the race of man. 
We are elected to this priceless boon. 

Then rejoice in the nearness of heaven, and its atti- 
tude toward us. Have victory in your own soul, and the 
harmony of love eternal. Have in your souls the peace 
toward man universal that the text teaches, and the 
Christmas will occur to you as a day of joy and rejoicing 
three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, a perennial 
Christmas of present giving and receiving of the greatest 
of all goods — the riches of grace that add no care nor 
sorrow. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 
LIFE AGGRANDIZED BY GRACE. 

"For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring 
silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will 
also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteous- 
ness." (Isaiah lx, 17.) 

T" 1 HIS text primarily speaks of the coming age of god- 
* liness, though it as forcibly argues the result of grace 
on the individual life. In this last sense, I shall consider 
the individual life. In this last sense, I shall consider 
it for this morning hour. That grace elevates the believer 
leaves no room for controversy. The pleading of biog- 
raphers for their heroes, the solicitude of friends for the 
departed, the inscriptions on the grave-stone, alike all 
show how highly the godly life is held in esteem. But 
just in what sense, in what way, all the good of grace is 
manifested, may not be so clear, nor so well established. 

If this figure of the text means anything, surely it 
will repay a careful study. The highest standard is here 
used, and in a worldly sense no one would think it be- 
neath their notice and attention to receive gold for silver, 
even if he were as good a bimetallist as any one of Bryan's 
men. But in things that are eternal, every believer in 
Christ will, of course, prize it above all earthly good. It 
is claimed that some one in the chemical laboratory has 
invented a process by which silver can be changed into 
gold, and the announcement has caused no little excite- 
ment and uneasiness in some circles — not in our home 

300 



Life Aggrandized by Grace. 301 

circle, however, thanks to small store! Now, if this is 
true, and I doubt it not, they say the only way to keep 
it from doing vast harm is to keep it a secret; for the 
further it goes, the greater loss will it occasion. But not 
so with the conversion of baser to higher values as cited 
in the text. For the good spoken of by the prophet will 
enrich all that accept it, while it impoverishes no one. 
Let me illustrate this in one word. Who is not enriched 
when he gives his heart to God? Who among us would 
sell his hope of heaven for all the world? Or who among 
us would not rather have the victory in his soul, if a 
child of God, than have all the world besides? Yet it 
harms and hurts no one. Grace is all good and injury 
never. Churchianity may persecute, and it does; but 
Christianity does good only and ever to every one. Glory! 
The first point I would have you note in the development 
of the truth of the text is, 

I. GRACE AGGRANDIZES LIFE'S MOTIVE. 

Too much importance can not be attached to a man's 
motive. This is the New Testament standard of virtue, 
"As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." What a vast 
expanse between the brute and man, between man and 
God! The three lives — of the brute, man, and Divinity — 
all have a different motive. Now, to raise the motive of 
life will affect the whole being. Grace does this. For 
the material ends of life it substitutes the moral. How 
vast the difference! Give a mother a million, or the 
good name and character of her boy. Who can com- 
pare them to her? The mother would say the moral is 
above all. The moral motive that raises the souls out 
of the mud of earth to the high land of heavenly living 
is common to all true faith. Illustration: Honest ver- 



302 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

diets ever honor the moral motive. How mean is the 
miser, the greedy, a Boss Tweed, as compared to Lin- 
coln, Shaftesbury, and other like characters; or these lat- 
ter as compared to the moral monsters of political courts, 
as Cardinal Wolsey, Richelieu, and Charles IX! 

Another aspect of the exalted motive of the saint is 
seen if we go to history. Who have gladdened the world 
with blessings of intellect and heart, who have trans- 
formed society, who have left the heart-cheering im- 
pressions on the ages, who have endeared themselves to 
the race and all time, but the souls who have sunk self 
at the altar of the Infinite, the souls who have kept their 
eyes on the Infinite and endured as seeing Him who is 
invisible? The man with a real God in his motive is 
a man that will ever lift the age in which he lives. Eter- 
nity above time, spirit above matter, soul above body, 
are an aggrandizement that can not be overestimated. 
How the brutish man is debased! The man living for 
the eternal world can be seen in the lives of thousands 
and will be a fact while ages roll, ever emphasizing itself 
in the world to come. The man that digs the mud versus 
the man that walks the skies. The exalted motive of 
Christianity is seen if we compare the facts stated in this 
way: Moral over material, God over self, and, finally, 
eternity over time; Daniel versus Nebuchadnezzar, 
O'Connor versus Parnell, Miiller versus Rothschild. 

II. grace: aggrandizes ufe's might. 

Brute force is the world's best. Grace gives mental 
and spiritual force — the force, or might, of deep con- 
viction; the might of living faith in God; the might of 
holy enthusiasm, where heroes are found; the might of 
Divine love in the soul; the might of self-sacrifice. David 
said God's gentleness made him great. Contrast the life 



Life Aggrandized by Grace. 303 

of Saul with that of Samuel; that of Paul with Judas or 
Julian. What has not love done, and done it in a way- 
alike praiseworthy and effectual! 

[This second division is not amplified; but the con- 
densed thoughts may be helpful. — Ella.] 

III. GRACE AGGRANDIZES UFE'S MAJESTY. 

In fact, no one is a real and full man till he knows 
God's grace in his soul. It colors and beautifies his very 
being. It brings out all his wondrous powers. It likens 
him to the ever-increasing army of the faithful. It en- 
thrones him among the world's best. It fits him for 
heaven's best and brightest. It restores the image of 
God in his being. Not face, that is not meant. It em- 
ploys all his powers and faculties. It takes away fear, 
and substitutes love. Takes away the slavery of sin for 
the freedom of grace. For life, it gives the more abundant 
life. It banishes death, and robs the grave of all sting. 
It lowers heaven to the level of his daily life. It makes 
him a benefactor of the race, if only a child, or poor or 
unknown. 

IV. HOW THE MAJESTY OF MAN IS* EXAI/TED BY GRACE. 

Illustration: Abraham exalted from being a mere 
nomadic chief to a friend of God and the advocate of 
men. See him, when informed that Sodom should be 
destroyed, talking with God, and pleading for the lives 
of the doomed city. Not that God had new thoughts 
suggested to Him by Abraham, but that man should 
hold such intimate converse with his Maker, and receive 
instructions as to coming events, and be permitted 
to help in fulfilling the Infinite Mind, is an honor most 
exalted. 

Behold Moses! Co-operating with the Almighty to 



304 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

purge the earth and save the worthy is a spectacle that 
ever challenges the wonder and admiration of men. Noah, 
building away at his ark amid skepticism and hate; for 
a man that brings news such as that inevitably associated 
with the coming doom, will not likely escape the hate 
and malice of men. Yet sublimely and patiently he 
plodded on till the work was done. God's time arrived, 
the rain fell, and the floods arose; the old ark began to 
float off its moorings, inclosing the only man of all the 
earth God could confide in and save. And as that old 
ark moved off, I think Noah reigned within, in majesty 
and greatness, as the special favorite of Heaven, as the 
grandest man that this world ever saw. Exalted from 
lowliness to be a savior of man. 

Let us note, too, the humble shepherd of a few sheep 
in the back of the desert, a man of slow speech and 
humblest origin, even a castaway in an Eyptian swamp, 
with no family of kin to exalt him, left to battle alone, 
called and aggrandized of God to be one of the most 
conspicuous figures of history; called to emancipate the 
greatest nation the sun has ever shone upon — a marvel 
to-day; called to be the giver of the greatest law, 
and prime-mover in the grandest system of ritual wor- 
ship this world has ever beheld; called to live on down 
the ages as the meekest and mightiest of men, from being 
one of the lowliest, most unpromising, most obscure of 
men that the world's history records. Grand, is it not? 
O, how God raises a faithful follower! 

To cite David, the illustrious king of Israel, who, 
rising from obscurity to a throne, and the author of a 
manual of devotion, in comparison with which all the 
later books are the meanest pretensions or the merest 
imitation. Or to hesitate a moment at the Babylonian 



Life Aggrandized by Grace. 305 

palace, and see a Daniel enthrone God's name and honor 
amid the idolatry and wickedness of the impious court; 
and, though just a lad and a stranger in a strange land, 
after establishing the Jehovah above all gods, to be 
crowned and honored as the greatest prince and most im- 
portant prophet of Holy Writ, whose rare, deep utter- 
ances are studied more to-day than any other of the 
prophets, — shows how all whom God calls are honored 
and exalted above their fellows. And to hesitate long 
enough to mark Saul, the murderous persecutor, going 
about as a theological policeman — the meanest calling 
of all associated with the sad history of the strife of good 
for supremacy in earth's dark domain — called, I say, from 
the low life of a persecutor to be an apostle, and exalted 
to be the ablest exponent of the world's great and only 
true religion, a religion that has transformed the earth 
and transfigured man, has peopled heaven with hosts that 
have lived and loved and labored for the Redeemer of 
men — an honor to be had in reverence by angels; called, 
from being a poor, miserable Jewish hater of Christ, to 
be a lover of all men; called and exalted from bigotry to 
become the most liberal soul; from being the chief of 
sinners to be the most noted saint, whose noble example 
and ennobling impulses live and throb in the hearts of 
all who really love Jesus Christ. Time will not suffice 
me to recount the ennobled lives of Luther, Fox, Knox, 
Wesley, Edwards, Finney, Knapp, and a whole array of 
the men God has called and honored, and who to-day, 
though dead, speak and live in grateful remembrance, 
and who shall brighten the pages of Church history while 
time lasts. They were converted into the pure metal of 
the kingdom, as are all who do God's will. 

My friends, allow a word of application. If God so 
20 



306 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

exalts man, if He has made known His will so that we 
can do it and be so exalted, is there one here this morn- 
ing that does not find it in his heart to say, "Lord, here 
am I, for all Thy will, for time and eternity?" O friends, 
to do God's will is sure exaltation; to refuse, is sure de- 
basement and final ruin; and yet, does any one hesitate 
to commit himself to all the will of God? I hope not. 

Now, this morning, I am glad to say that all are 
eligible for this mart of exchange, and if you would be 
wdse and rich in that which alone is yours — namely, the 
soul-character that shall exist with you while endless 
ages roll — down with the baser metals of earth's good, 
down with all that is antagonistic to God's will in your 
soul, down with all your godless schemes of earthly am- 
bition for self-exaltation, down with thy all, — and God, 
as true as He lives, will exalt you and all you give Him. 

God grant that you and I, from this day, may be no 
more enrolled with those lower in the scale of transforma- 
tion than those who are pure gold, shining as the bright- 
ness of the firmament and as the stars, destined to shine 
for ever and ever. 



XXVIII. 

THE GLORIOUS HOPE. 

"Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious ap- 
pearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." 
(Titus ii, 13.) 

"THE Apostle Paul is giving a system of doctrine to 
1 Titus. If he ever was careful to be inspired, it is 
on an occasion like this. His words to Titus were not 
only the truth, but the truth that he regarded important 
to teach. Now, I am convinced that all who believe the 
Bible will take Paul for a standard on doctrine. There 
are some to-day that seem to act as though we had more 
opportunity to know the whole truth than did Paul, so 
we constantly hear of the "New Theology," as though 
God did not give the best thought to His disciples through 
Christ, but left the world eighteen centuries to find it 
out. Now, if we compare the life and labors of the 
Apostle Paul with the ordinary ministerial life to-day, 
we would all say it were well to go back to the former 
times and manner of preaching. However, we accept 
the words of the Bible as the highest wisdom, and the 
will of God to men, which will disembarrass us of all 
conjectures, and give us a firm foundation on which to 
stand. 

One other thought, by way of introduction, as to 
the thing itself of which the text speaks. The aspect of 
the event spoken of suggests the marvelous and extra- 
ordinary, which is a source of annoyance to many, even 

307 



308 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

those who have a hope of salvation through Christ. Now, 
I would only say that, as I look into the heavens that 
glow with splendor, emanating from its myriad lumina- 
ries; as we consider the greatness and number of the 
heavenly bodies; as we consider the marvel, that though 
they are so many times greater than our earth, yet they 
are hung on nothing, and go moving through space with 
the precision that enables eclipses and other phenomena 
to be calculated years ahead with mathematical accuracy ; 
when we consider the wonders of the world under our 
feet, can we for a moment doubt God's power to bring 
about whatever He has recorded in His Word, though 
it be beyond our comprehension? I think not. Since 
God has changed some of us,, and given us hearts to 
love and serve Him, who have been so wicked and 
worldly, I could no more doubt God's power to work 
wonders than I could doubt His power to send a clear 
or a cloudy day to-morrow. So let us note a few things 
that the texts suggests as items in the glorious hope: 

i. a hops of 4 the Messiah's triumph. 

The Apostle Paul, after telling us that all knees shall 
bow, and every tongue shall confess, and all things put 
under His feet, yet pathetically breaks in with the ob- 
servation that "we see not all things put under Him 
as yet." How much of this world is not subject to Christ! 
Yea, how much of it is postively at variance with Him! 
How often is the trite expression heard, "It takes all 
kinds of people to make a world." But it is a falsehood. 
A thousand things in this world are unnecessary. A 
thousand things about us we could get on without; yea, 
a thousand things we see daily are positively pernicious, 
and the sooner sunk in oblivion the better, 



The Glorious Hope. 309 

God indeed has in His mind the plan to get this old 
world cleaned up some day, and rid it of the hurtful and 
the vicious. Jesus died for a special end; God created 
this world for a special end; and the old world rolls on 
for that very purpose, and that is the triumph of Jesus. 

When God created man, He gave him the right and 
might to have dominion over this world. But Adam fell 
under the dominion of appetite. God has not changed His 
mind to have this world ruled and inhabited with mankind 
that shall have dominion over all things. So, when Adam 
fell and lost his place and power, the world rolled on 
till the Second Adam from heaven should come to reign. 
So Christ came to redeem a race; when multiplied, He 
will come back to earth in regal power, and take up 
His reign as the King of saints on this very earth. This 
is part of the hope we are to hold till it is realized. What 
misery and oppression, what sadness and sorrow, what 
torrents of blood and continents of death, has not this 
world seen in its sad conflict with sin? When I think 
of the sin and woe, the misery and shame, and deathless 
hate to God and good, I marvel at the long-suffering of 
God in waiting so long. But of all the hate this world 
has ever manifested toward the good, the greatest fell 
on the head of the Son of God. But now, the time is 
coming when it will be changed. O, what a contrast 
will it be when Jesus is again on earth ! 

He was humiliated, and in His humiliation no man 
was more lowly. With no family of fame, homeless and 
a wanderer, did He press the soil of earth. We often 
speak of the very poor. Jesus had no place to lay His 
head. But when He returns, He will come as the King 
of glory, Kings of kings and Lord of lords, to have domin- 
ion from pole to pole. Men have dreamed of universal 



310 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

empire ; rivers of blood have been shed by ambitious men 
to get the mastery of the continents. They fought, bled, 
failed, and died. But Christ is to reign "where'er the sun 
does his successive journeys run." The great continents 
of earth shall join with the islands in one glad anthem of 
praise to our conquering King. Christ had all heaven, 
and left it to live as the poorest of earth to win a world 
back to God. And O, what a glad day it will be when 
He comes to take possession! 

He was lonely when on earth. The prophet says, 
"He walked the wine-press alone, and of the people there 
was none with Him." He gathered up twelve men, to 
be taught by His wisdom, to fellowship Him in His 
loneliness, but in an hour when all the horrors of lone- 
liness had vested themselves with the garb of sorrow, 
they all forsook Him and fled. Not one stood by Him 
and shared His sad hours. But when He comes again, 
myriads of happy souls will welcome Him as their con- 
quering King. The prophets seen on the Mount of Trans- 
figuration will be there. Daniel and Elisha and Elijah 
will welcome Him. The martyrs and the fathers, and all 
the faithful of every age, will conspire to swell the coro- 
nation song in the happy day of His advent. Millions 
of those who died for Christ, who lived and died for Him 
in sorrow and solitude, will be there to praise Him, whose 
right it is to rule and reign. 

He was defeated then in the eyes of the world. But 
when He comes in the clouds of glory, it will be as a 
triumphant Prince, victorious over all. He told His dis- 
ciples they should do greater works than He did, and 
it was fulfilled. He said His Word should be preached 
to all nations for a witness, and it has been done. He 
said if He were lifted up, He would draw all men unto 
Him. It was done, with the promised results. The moral 



The Glorious Hope. 311 

and the immoral, the cultured and ignorant, the civilized 
and savage, have all been drawn to Him, and to-day 
the sun shines on no land in which the Son of God does 
not have faithful followers. Napoleon said "millions 
would die for Christ," and it has been swelled to greater 
numbers. He stood before the Jews as an unknown 
Galilean, but to-day thousands of Jews call Him their 
Messiah, and all will in that day. And in the day He 
comes, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall con- 
fess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And 
the enemies that would not confess His name, nor live 
as He taught, shall then flee from His presence with 
shame and confusion. Do you want to see that day? 

He was persecuted when on earth; but He is coming 
to be worshiped. At how many hands has Christ re- 
ceived a crown of thorns! How many have heaped 
ignominy and shame upon His head! How many of us, 
like Saul, persecuted Him ignorantly, and, like Saul, have 
had our eyes opened to know Him as the Lord of all! 
In how many lands has His name been cast out as evil! 
His own nation, the Jews, hated and handed Him over 
to be crucified, and, with the most virulent hate, would 
not even allow Him to die in peace. But He is coming 
again, to receive the worship and heart-homage of the 
untold, teeming myriad of earth that have laid down their 
arms of rebellion, and consecrated their lives to His 
service, and worship Him with all their heart. Jesus was 
lonely, defeated, persecuted, and crucified when here be- 
fore; now He comes to be admired and adored. Do you 
want to see that day? Would you hasten it if you could? 
Can you say, with dear old John, "Come, Lord Jesus, 
come quickly?" 

But some will say the world is not ready for Christ 
to come in judgment. No, and they never will be. Well, 



312 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

then, is the gospel to fail and they to be lost? No, the 
gospel is no failure; it is man that is, and ever has been, 
the failure. God was not a failure in Eden, and yet man 
had to be cast out for failing. The law was not a failure. 
Paul says it is holy, just, and good, and yet man failed 
under law. So, while man has failed, and is now failing 
under gospel love and power, it is man, and not the 
gospel, that is the failure. If a man living on the bank 
of the lake should build a good, seaworthy life-boat, and 
would some day see a man overboard, drifting in the 
struggles of death, and would go out and offer to help 
him into the boat, and take him ashore, and the man 
should refuse, and would not allow the boat to get near 
him, and willfully sank beneath the waves, when the man 
returned to shore, would the people say his boat was a 
failure because the man willfully drowned? Of course 
not. They would praise the man for his effort, and say, 
truly, that the man just simply and merely suicided. So 
is it with the gospel. Millions have got aboard, and no 
one is excluded, so that, if men will go down unsaved, 
it is all their own fault. And Christ shall be praised and 
worshiped for His effort, even in the case of the lost 
ones. And, methinks, the time is coming that, even in 
hell itself, men will blame themselves and exalt Christ 
for the effort lost upon them. And shall we not on earth 
who have an opportunity to yet be saved? How much 
more we who are saved! Glory! Christ is coming soon 
to reign, and all the world, saved and damned, will say 
it is right! O, my whole soul cries out, "Come, Lord 
Jesus," when I think what it will mean in this wicked 
world. 

II. A HOPD OF MORAL TRIUMPH. 

How little this world thinks of the godly can be read 
in the death of the Son of God, in the lives of those who 



The Glorious Hope. 313 

have lived the most unselfish lives, and in the disrelish 
and the disregard most men have for piety. A man filled 
with the Holy Ghost, and reproducing the life of Jesus, 
is almost as odd as a blooming rose in the desert, or a 
tropical plant at the North Pole. What a history it would 
be to record all the abuse good men have received just 
because they were godly. Men stoned Wesley, refused 
to sell Fox food, imprisoned Luther, and killed Paul, all 
and only because they. did right. A "Life of Finney" was 
taken to the Cleveland jail for the prisoners to read. One 
read it, and put a note in it that said, "Well, this man 
was a lunatic, anyway." Yes, good men are often re- 
garded crazy, vicious, while the timeserver, going to hell 
with the crowd, is called a good fellow. But this all will 
be changed when the Son of God comes back to earth 
and sin shall be destroyed. 

The saloon shall go forever. Then shall we have our 
fond dreams realized. O, how long and hard have a few, 
yes, only a few, it is true, tried to banish the saloon ! But 
the saloon men laugh at the weeping wife and the starv- 
ing child. The brewer and the distiller, growing rich 
on the heart's blood of childhood and helpless woman- 
hood ! Go out to this little cemetery, and count the graves 
of those who have died from the curse of the cup. Count 
the graves of those whose death was hastened and life 
burdened by the gin-mills of this little town, and you 
have a sketch of the great picture in every land and clime. 
We pray and we plead, and we work and circulate peti- 
tions, and I mean to keep right on too; but how little 
can we do! But when the feet of the Son of God press 
this world again, every saloon will close forever, and, in 
its stead, something in keeping with the needs of the new 
creation shall succeed it. 

The governments of the world have ever been a 



314 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

menace to godliness. It is true, the first American Con- 
gress passed a bill to make an appropriation of two thou- 
sand dollars to give the Word of God to the poor of the 
land. But alas! would it be done to-day? No, the Bible 
can't even be read in many of the schools of the land 
to-day. Does Congress work in the line of God's Word? 
No, or they would not legalize the liquor-traffic, they 
would not have gone into office-seeking and office-hold- 
ing, forgetting the oaths they took when going into office. 
If Congress was right, would we temperance people be 
troubled to ask the senators to remove the saloons from 
the Capital? If Congress and the Government were right 
with God, would the poor Indian be lied out of his ground 
and living? O no. My hope is that Christ will soon 
come and put an end to the whole thing. 

When Christ comes, government will be in the 
hands of the godly, not in the Tammany Ring or any 
other ring. The Turks will no more water the earth 
with the blood of Armenian worshipers, and no one 
to raise a voice — an official voice — against it. Christ 
will change the governments of the world. Right will 
then rule and reign. It will be easy for boys to live 
without the danger of saloon-keepers winking them into 
the den to drink. I do not know how it will be all done, 
but Christ is going to reign. Glory! He shall banish 
all the wicked into oblivion, and, with this earth cleaned 
and garnished, He will set up His kingdom. 

The institutions of earth will be in the hands of the 
Son of God. 

The art of the earth will be under tribute to the new 
kingdom. 

The Church will no more plague the good with 
persecution and inquisition. 



The Glorious Hope. 315 

The asylums will give place to health of body and 
mind. Praise the Lord! 

The criminal classes shall be a thing of the past. 

The Christless rich and Godless poor shall be no 
more here to menace. No, the Son of God shall make 
the earth's morals what God has ever wanted them to be. 
Hasten the day, Lord! 

Slavery and bigotry and persecution and wars shall 
all be forgotten. The spear shall be beaten into a prun- 
ing-hook. 

III. A HOPE) OF MATERIAL; TRIUMPH. 

Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth. None 
now hold it long. But the meek shall inherit it. To-day 
it is too often the crafty, the cunning, the worldly pru- 
dent. How many of the hardest-worked the world has 
ever seen, the most worthy of men, that would rightly 
use all they could get, live and die with scarce enough 
to eat! In the new earth it is all to be changed. In 
the Parable of the Talents we have the conditions of 
title. The one that made ten other talents should rule 
over ten cities. Glory! Now, I am not glad that some 
who are now rich will change their condition; but I 
am glad that so many that have died as they lived — 
most destitute — shall then be rich. Wesley had but 
one silver spoon. Luther had nothing to show for a 
life of the hardest toil. Edwards, the immortal thinker, 
died without a dollar; while a thousand millionaires of 
earth, past and present, shall be found with their talent 
wrapped up in a napkin, to their eternal beggary. 

God made this earth good for a good man and a 
good race, but sin has perverted the whole, and has 
violated every law of the universe, as first created by the 



316 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

Almighty. Over and over the Lord has promised this 
world to the godly, and nowhere has it been fulfilled 
more than to secure them from want as they daily 
prayed for bread. These promises are just as sacred 
as any God ever gave man, and they will all be fulfilled 
too. Glory! 

The earth itself shall be a world of law and order. 
God made it so at the first, and called it all good. Did 
God ever pronounce a sickness good? Did God ever 
make a tooth to ache, a joint to swell, an eye to grow 
dim, and back to bend? No, God made happiness the 
law of all being, I am sure, or He should not have pro- 
nounced it good. So the new earth will come back to 
law and regularity again. 

Sickness is the work of the devil, so Jesus said; and 
nowhere in the Bible does it say the contrary. When 
Jesus healed the sick woman on the Sabbath, did He 
not say that Satan had bound her, lo! these many years? 
Did God ever call a cancer, consumption, rheumatism, 
gout, lameness, good? No, He has never; but has said 
they are the effects of the curse of sin. Then, in the 
new earth that will be given us at the coming of Jesus, 
sickness will all go. Praise the Lord! It will go now 
from the bodies that have faith for healing. Even if I 
am sick, I will say it. Horace Mann said, "God could 
never have made man as he now is." That is a truth 
of Scriptures. All hail the day when the works of the 
devil shall all be destroyed, and forever! 

In keeping with the above, the climate will be 
changed in the new earth. Order being heaven's first 
law next to holiness, the disorder of storm and extremes 
of cold and heat must be supplanted. The storms of the 
summer sky are the body — nature — disturbed with an 



The Glorious Hope. 317 

ague, a chill, a bilious attack. No cyclones in Eden. O, 
the sunstrokes ; floods of China, that sweep in death-deal- 
ing surges down upon the unprotected people; the life- 
destroying famine of India, now raging, claiming its 
victims by the thousands; the terrible blizzard of the 
Northwest — are all marks of the absence of the order 
of the first creation. Earthquakes have heaved and 
tossed this old earth; floods have swept it of its inhabit- 
ants; famines have enfeebled and impoverished whole 
nations and generations; pestilence and plagues have 
wasted. But this shall give place to the perfect order 
of God's ideal world. But some will, no doubt, think 
this is too good to be true. So might the man think 
who had never been well, if offered good health. This 
means a great change, some will say. Yes, there will 
be a great change if the meek only are to inhabit the 
earth; if all the wicked shall be banished from the face 
of the earth, as we read in Thessalonians. But that 
means but little to God. He that made the worlds can 
change one, no doubt. And, then, changes have taken 
place. All that is wrong now has come into it since 
God turned it from His hand, saying, "It is good;" and 
if the devil could change it thus, surely God can change 
it back again. But God will change us in the twinkle 
of an eye; so will He, with like speed, alter the earth. 
However, it shall be done when Jesus comes. 

The earth is changing now from hot to cold. In 
the days of Zoroaster, an earthquake so changed the 
climate that critics think it had a saddening effect on 
his spirits. But when Jesus comes and brings back the 
Edenic state to the earth, how grand it will be! 

Besides, it is not unthinkable to have things as we 
picture. We now have good seasons of several days' 



318 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

duration without storms. Why not have them extended 
to ages? We now have seasons of perfect temperature. 
Why not protract them to ages? There was a time 
when no storms, no pestilence, no famine, no floods, no 
disease or death, weeded or wasted the earth. We shall 
have this Eden-state again for a thousand years. Glory! 
Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! 

O, this world will then be fit for the glorified Christ 
and the heavenly inhabitants that shall come with Him! 

Then this world shall be w r ell peopled. The untold 
millions of faithful shall be there or here. All those who 
have gone before, that loved God, and served Him in 
spirit and in truth, shall be here. But, best of all, this 
earth shall be an Eden, with the Almighty dwelling 
among men. O, how shall my heart rejoice! 

God may swing this planet higher in the heavens, 
environ it with a better, a grander sky; for it is to be 
new too. A thousands suns may flash their commin- 
gling rays together to gladden and lighten this home 
of the faithful. A myriad of moons may be evoked to 
do duty at evening, so that a sable ray shall not fall 
on our planet for a thousand years. The perfect atmos- 
phere of the higher state of earth shall minister to all 
the conditions of health. The noble associations of the 
new earth shall contribute to fill our cup of joy to the 
full. The unclouded presence of God, brought near by 
perfect adjustment, shall satisfy the longing of our 
hungry hearts; while, methinks, the angel bands, now 
dwelling in obscurity, shall render music that will rival 
the thousand choirs of earth; and the smiles of a lov- 
ing God shall fill every cup with joy. 

Yes, the earth shall be filled with men and women 
that love the right, and do it; that worship God and 



The Glorious Hope. 319 

know Him. When all bigotry and persecution and ec- 
clesiastic hate and tyranny shall be as much a stranger 
here as grace is now to the bigot's heart. No more will 
a Wickliff or a Huss be called to burn for their faith by 
those who had no faith. No more will the jails groan 
with the best of earth's fair sons and daughters. No 
more will the graveyards be peopled by the untimely 
death of the overworked saints. No more shall Christ's 
name be cast out as evil; but 'mid joy and rejoicing, 
the saint from Africa's burning sands shall strike glad 
hands with the worshiper from Iceland's frigid snows. 
Then the wronged Indian of America and the oppressed 
slave of India shall together walk to worship their God, 
while the continents and islands of the seas shall all join 
to swell the angelic chorus to crown Jesus Christ Lord 
of all. 

This world now is beautiful, but it has its dark cor- 
ners. Homes are now happy, but they have their clos- 
eted skeletons. Fields now are fair, but they have their 
droughts and famines. Valleys are fertile and flowery- 
grassed, but they have their floods. Health now men 
have, but there is ever-menacing sickness. Summer 
now we have, but it is terminated by biting frosts. Hap- 
piness we now have, but every hour is threatened with 
a surprise of sorrow. Prosperity now we have, but death 
stands defiant in our way, to cut short all triumph. 
Knowledge now we have, but a vast continent just be- 
gins to open to our view when we are closing our life's 
work. But, then, we are to have a thousand years to 
grow in knowledge, in a world where sin and sorrow, 
pain and death, shall never come. 

Now, ths is the hope, the blessed hope, yea, the glori- 
ous hope of the text. Not that I have exhausted the sub- 



320 Word and Work of David J. Lewis. 

ject, or even done it justice, but in some faint degree this 
will be the earth we hope for. For this hope, God asks us 
to hold, as mere stewards, the riches of this weak, wicked, 
worrisome world. He asks us to spend and be spent, to 
get men ready for the coming new conditions. He tells 
us this is an objective point, to which we are ever to 
travel. For this hope we are to endure, as His trusty 
servants, all the ills of life. He tells us if we endure 
now, we shall then reign. Not that it is a sin to have 
the good things of the low-conditioned life, but that we 
must forego a slavery to them for the higher mastery 
of the Son of God. All sin, by this hope, is crowded 
out. Selfishness can no more dominate our motives. 
We care but little for the crumb of comfort now extracted 
from the stingy elements about us, when we shall soon 
have the whole realm of a rejuvenated earth to enjoy 
But the crowning hope is: We shall be ourselves trans- 
formed into new beings. "Like Christ" is the pattern 
the Bible gives us. A new earth and a new race! Can 
God do this? This is my hope, founded on the sure 
Word of God. To doubt it, I put myself with the in- 
fidel. To refuse to allow it to influence my life is to 
become a sinner once more; but, yielding to it, and 
hoping for it, and rejoicing in it, is the spirit that over- 
comes this world. 

Shall we share it together? By God's grace we may. 
By God's grace I shall. So, pitching my tent toward 
the sunrise of that grand day, I shall wait and watch and 
work till my soul is ravished with the vision of the glo- 
rious appearing of Him whose right it is to rule and 
reign. 



THE REVIVALIST. 

A FULL SALVATION JOURNAL, 

Published WEEKLY in the interest of 

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 

FREE PROM QUESTIONABLE ADVERTISEMENTS, 

Pentecostal. Missionary. 

Loyal Evangelical. 

"In essentials, unity; in non-esientials, liberty; in all 
things, charity." 

GOD, WHOM WE SERVE, - Proprietor, 

M. W. KNAPP, ---••- Editor. 
SETH C. REES, • * • • Associate, 

W. N. HIRST, - • • • Book Department* 
BYRON J. REES, - - - Review Editor* 

W. B. GODBEY, Sunday-school and Question Drawer* 
MRS. M. W. KNAPP, Young People's Department. 

OBJECT. 

To promote deep spirituality among all believers* 

To magnify the New Testament standard of piety and 
doctrine, especially emphasizing Scriptural Regeneration 
for sinners and the Baptism with the Holy Ghost for ail of 
God's children. 

To help spread the Gospel of Bible Holiness over "all 
the world." 

To oppose the formality, worldliness and ecclesiastical 
usurpation which threaten the very life of the believer. 

To proclaim the freedom of individual conscience in 
all matters not sinfuL 

By God's grace wr hope to make it one of TJQB BIST 
PAPERS ISSUED. 

PRICE, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
83^* Agents wanted everywhere. 
m. W. KNAPP, Publisher, - - Cincinnati, OMo, 




The Ideal Pentecostal Church, 

By SETH C. REES. 

Quaker Minister and Evangbust. 

Like the Bible and life of Jesus, It 
combines the characteristics of the LAMB 
and the LION, the LILY and the LIGHT* 
XING. 

Contents : Chapter I. Opening Words. II. The Ideal 
Pentecostal Church is Composed of Regenerated Souls. III. 
A Clean Church. IV. A Powerful Church. V. A Powerful 
Church— Continued. VI. A Witnessing Church. VII. With- 
out Distinction as to Sex. VIII. A Liberal Church. IX. A 
Demonstrative Church. X. An Attractive Church — Draws the 
People Together. XI. Puts People Under Conviction. XII. 
Will Have Healthy Converts. *XIII. A Joyful Church. XIV 
A Unit XV. The Power of the Lord is Present to Heal the 
Sick. XVI. A Missionary Church. XVII. Out of Bondage. 
XVIII. Entering into Canaan. XIX. The Land and Its Re- 
sources. XX Samson. XXI. Power Above the Power of 
the Enemy. XXII. Compromise and its Evil Effects. XXIII. 
Sermon. XXIV. The Author's Experience. 

The following are a few sample drops from the 
CURRENT OF COMMENDATIONS: 

Dr. Carradlne.—" As for Brother Rees, I know of no man in the Holiness 
ranks to-day who preaches more convincingly and unctiously than himself. 
I do most heartily commend him and his wife to my friends and brethren, 
North and South, who desire a man filled with the Holy Ghost, and one 
who is as good a leader as he is a preacher.' 

W. B. Godbey.— " The Pentecostal Church, by Rev. Seth C. Rees, the 
fire-baptized Quaker, is a Niagara from beginning to end. It is orthodox 
and full of experimental truth and Holy Ghost fire. You can not afford to 
do without it. I guarantee you will be delighted and electrified from 
Heaven's batteries." 

Christian Standard.—" It is safe, sound and evangelical, uncontroversial 
and admirably adapted to circulation among all believers." 

Michigan Christian Advocate.—*' He writes in a sweet and attractive spirit. 
We could wish it a wide circulation." 

Religious Telescope.—" It is written in clear, nervous English and glows 
throughout with the evangelical fervor of its author." 

Rev. George Hughes, Editor of the Guide to Holiness.—" I like it; it is square 
out, and that suits me. It ought to have a good sale." 

Rev. John M. Pike, Editor of Way and Faith.—" The book glows and burns 
with Holy Ghost fire, and has stirred our spiritual being to its very depths." 

It is well printed on good paper, and is neatly bound. It 
contains 134 pages, making a beautiful and very cheap book. 
Price, 50 cts.; 4 copies, postpaid, $1.50. Agents wanted 
everywhere. Special rates to publishers, ministers and for free 
distribution by the quantity. < Address, 




GODBEY'S 

NEW TESTAMENT 

COMMENTARY. 



VOL. I. Revelation Price, $1 . 00 

VOL. II. Hebrews (Perfection), James (Practice), 
Peter (Fire), John (Love), Jude 
(Lightning). 434 pages. Price, post- 
paid I .25 

VOL. III. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I. 
and II. Thessalonians, I. and II. 
Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. Pres- 
ent Price 1 . 00 

VOL. IV. Corinthians to Galatians. Over 500 

pages. Price 1.50 

VOL. V. Acts and Romans, over 500 pages. 

Price 1 .50 

20 per cent, discount to all who order the whole set, paying 
for each Yolunie as issued. 



NOTICE. 

1. It is condensed. It omits all passages which need 
no explaining, and deals thoroughly with the difficult 
ones, thus giving the reader the greatest possible value 
for his money. 2. It throws floods of new light upon 
many important passages. 3. It shows the proper trans- 
lation of the New Testament, and sweeps sophistical ar- 
guments against holiness triumphantly from the field. 
4. It will doubtless be the great Holiness Commentary on 
the New Testament for coming years, as it is written 
from a holiness standpoint by one of the ablest evangel- 
istic Greek New Testament translators of any age. 

THE GENERAL VERDICT 

Of many of its readers is voiced in the following notices 
of Vol. I.: "Of intense interest."— The Methodist. 
"Practical, spiritual, interesting and instructive."— Be- 
ligious Telescope. "A remarkable book, worth much tc 
thoughtful people. "—Pastor T. E. B. Anderson. "A 
graphic and powerful representation of the author's in- 
terpretation. "—Michigan Christian Advocate. "It is by 
a vigorous thinker and pungent writer. It is worthy a 
thoughtful and prayerful perusal."— Guide to Holiness." 

OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR. 

Victory 25c. Spiritual Gifts and 

Holy Land 40c. Graces 25c. 

Sanctiflcation 25c. Christian Perfection. . . . 26c. 

Holiness or Hell 30c . The Woman Preacher . . lie. 

FOUR COPIES OF ANY SET FOE THE PRICE 
OF ONLY THREE. 




* * dolportage * * 
Molineee Booklets. 

pentecostaL 
Jloral. 6vangelicaL 

Salvation Papers. S. A. Keen. 10c. 

The Better Way . Abridged. B. Carradine. IOo. 

The Double Cure. M. W . Knapp. 10c. 

Gifts and Graces. W. B. Godbey. 10c. 

Victory. W. B. GODBEY. 10c. 

Sins Versus Infirmities. B. S. Taylor. 10c. 

Canaanltes. B. S. Taylor. 10c. 

Salvation Melodies. From " Tears and Triumphs." IOo. 

Pentecostal Sanctlfication. S. A. Keen. 10c. 

Holy Land. W. B. Godbey. 10c. 

Pentecostal Church. Abridged. S. C. Ree3. 10c. 

Pentecostal Preachers. From " Bolts." M. W. Knapp. 10c. 

Sanctified Life. Abridged. B. Carradine. 10c. 

Pentecostal Light. A. M. Hills. 10c. 

Romanism to Pentecost. J.S.Dempster. 10c. 

Types of the Spirit. G. D. Watson. 10c. 

Spirit of Jesus. E. H. Dashiell. 10c. 

Pentecostal Wine from *« Bible Grapes." By Carradine, Bees, and 

others. 140 pp. 20c. 
Impressions. M. W. Knapp. 140 pp.- 20c. 
Life of Madam Guyon. Introduction by Abbie C. Morrow. 20c. 



River of Death. M. W. Knapp. (For the young.) 15c. 

Morning Glories. Abbie C. Morrow. (For the Young.) 20c. 

Plashes from Lightning Bolts. M. W. Knapp. 15c. 

Burning Coals. From Fire from Heaven. Seth C. Rees. 10c. 

Joy and Rejoicing. Pentecostal Bible Readings. Abbie C. Morrow 
and C. W. moCrossan. 10c. 

The Heart-Cry of Jesus. Byron J. Rees. 10c. 

Pentecostal Messengers. Seth C. Rees, B. Carradine, W. B. God- 
bey, A. M. Hills, and others. 10c. 

Sparks from Revival Kindlings. M. W. Knapp. 10c. 

Light and Shadow. Christian Science Exposed. Forrest W. Beers. 
15c. 

Jesus Only. Year Book. By Godbey, Carradine, Rees, and oth- 
ers. 25c. 

Pentecostal Aggressiveness. M. W. Knapp. 10c. 

Paul to the Thessalonians. W. B. Godbey. 10c. 

Out of Egypt Into Canaan. (Reprint.) M. W. Knapp. 25c. 

Food for Lambs. Abridged. A.M. Hills. 10c. 

Pentecostal Kernels. D. B. Updegraff. 10c. 

The Holy Nation. R. L. Selle. 10c. 

Whosoever Gospel. A. M. Hills. 10c. 

Trumpet Calls to the Unconverted. Byron J. Rees. 20c. 

Electric Shocks from Pentecostal Batteries. Food and Fire from Sal- 
vation Park Camp-meeting. 20c. 

The Return of Jesus. W. B. Godbey and Seth C. Rees. 10c. 

Soul Laws in Sexual, Social, and Spiritual Life. F. S. Heath. IOo. 

Life of Faith Through Geo. Muller. Abbie C. Morrow. 20c. 

Any number will be sent on receipt of price. Special rates by 
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One dollar and sixty centa worth of the above and The Reviv- 
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ISTS WANTED WHEREVER Y REVIVALIST OFFICE, 

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